Early Education and Care

The Ounce of Prevention Fund advocates for increased state and federal investment in research-based early learning programs.

Decades of research show that the academic achievement gap in low-income children forms well before they enter kindergarten. Unprepared for school, these children struggle to catch up to their peers and may be placed in special education or held back. Fortunately, research also gives us a solution to the achievement gap problem: high-quality early education and care can even the playing field for children at risk of school failure.

Illinois

The Ounce and our advocacy partners worked to secure the passage of Preschool for All in 2006. The program made Illinois the first state in the nation to offer voluntary, high-quality preschool to all three- and four-year-olds. Preschool for All prioritizes at-risk children first and programs are operated by local school districts or community-based agencies. Preschool for All is funded by the Illinois State Board of Education's Early Childhood Block Grant.

A percentage of the Early Childhood Block Grant is set aside for infant-toddler programs, such as home visiting, that strengthen the role of parents as their child's first teachers. In 2009, the Ounce successfully advocated for the Illinois General Assembly to pass a bill to increase the infant-toddler set-aside from 11 percent to 20 percent by 2015 whenever new funding is available.

Learn more about Preschool for All and the Early Childhood Block Grant from the Illinois State Board of Education.

Other States

As the Ounce expands the number of Educare programs in the Educare Learning Network, each school becomes a platform for policy change. Educare is a tangible place where policymakers and community leaders can see how at-risk children can thrive in high-quality early learning environments. For example, Educare served as the model for the $25 million Oklahoma Pilot Early Childhood Program, which increased the number of children served by high-quality programs in the state.

Federal

The First Five Years Fund, a project of the Ounce, sucessfully garnered support for new early childhood investments in the 2009 federal stimulus package. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act included $1 billion for Head Start, $1.1 billion for Early Head Start, and $2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG).



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