In This Issue

	Illinois is in the Race
	Chicago Makes Early Learning a Priority
	Healthier Women and Families
	Advocacy Training
	Resources

Illinois Legislative Summary 2011

Read our summary of bills related to young children and their families passed by the Illinois General Assembly in the past year.

Video

Watch our new video: Early Learning Matters.

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Illinois is in the Race

Illinois was one of 35 states to submit an application for the Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge, which gives our state a chance to win $70 million in federal funding over four years. As a national early childhood leader, Illinois recognizes this as an opportunity to transform the quality of our early education and development programs.

The Illinois application details plans to use the grant to increase the number of high-need children in high-quality early learning programs by:

• Implementing an assessment for school readiness in publicly funded kindergarten classrooms that covers essential domains of learning and informs instruction
• Creating a dramatically different and expanded Tiered Quality Rating System that incorporates all birth-to-five early childhood programs
• Creating a statewide system of community collaboration that ensures that high-need children are identified, referred and linked to critical services

The U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services are jointly administering the Early Learning Challenge and will announce awards no later than Dec. 31.

Chicago Makes Early Learning a Priority

This summer, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel convened an Early Childhood Task Force to make recommendations on how the City of Chicago can improve the quality and coordination of the city's early childhood programs. On Sept. 28, the mayor announced the creation of an Early Learning Executive Council to oversee the implementation of the task force's recommendations. Read more about the mayor's initiative. We will share the task force's recommendations with you when they are available.

Mayor Emanuel made the announcement at a press conference at the Ounce of Prevention Fund's Educare of Chicago. Watch videos and see photos from the event.

Healthier Women and Families

Women will be able to receive preventive health services without charge next year, thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Preventative health services include gestational diabetes screenings, contraception services, well-woman visits, domestic violence screening, and breastfeeding support, supplies and counseling. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services adopted these guidelines this year and they will take effect on Aug. 1, 2012.

Illinois also received a $5.1 million federal grant to create Affordable Insurance Exchanges, which will increase access to health insurance for low-income families who are unable to qualify for Medicaid. Learn more at Illinois Health Matters.

New Advocacy Training Resources

Did you miss our Advocacy Training Series this summer? The recordings of each webinar and a robust selection of related resources are now on our website. Check out our resources on the following topics:

• Media 101
• Changing Policy Through Site Visits
• Make an Impact Through Social Media

Interested in having Ounce staff members give your organization or community an advocacy training? Please contact us at advocacy@ounceofprevention.org.

Resources 

• Premature Birth Report Card (March of Dimes)
• Dec. 9-11: National Training Institute (Zero to Three)
• Dec. 13-15: Natural Environment Open Forums (American Academy of Pediatrics, Illinois Chapter)
• Feb. 15-16: 2012 National Summit on Quality in Home Visiting Programs (Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Every Child Succeeds and The Pew Center on the States)
• Early Childhood Capital Grant Application and Capital Grant FAQ
• Getting in Sync: Revamping Licensing and Preparation for Teachers in Pre-K, Kindergarten, and the Early Grades (New America Foundation, 2011)