Increasing Equitable Access to Early Head Start and Head Start

ZERO TO THREE’s (ZTT) Policy Center is excited to announce a new project to support state advocates in increasing equitable access to Early Head Start (EHS) and Head Start (HS). National partners include Partnership for America’s Children, the United Parent Leaders Action Network and CounterPart Consulting. Together we are providing technical assistance and regrant funding to five multi-issue child advocacy organizations in states: Advocates for Children of New Jersey, Children’s Alliance (WA), Children at Risk (TX), Maine Children’s Alliance and NC Early Education Coalition.

State grantees will partner with parents, communities, and other public and private stakeholders to build/strengthen advocacy coalitions; assess the landscape of EHS/HS services and barriers to equitable access; and develop policy and advocacy priorities to increase equitable access to these critical programs. Family and community voice will be centered throughout all aspects of the project to ensure policy and advocacy priorities are rooted in health equity and stated community needs.

Resources, tools, and lessons learned from other ZTT state efforts, including Think Babies and Building Strong Foundations for Families, will be shared with EHS/HS state grantees. ZTT will also engage state partners in opportunities to inform the national EHS/HS advocacy agenda and facilitate bi-directional information sharing and alignment of state and national EHS/HS agendas. Over the course of the next year, we will share information about the activities these states engage in to inform the field about promising strategies for strengthening parent partnership and advancing policy/advocacy priorities that will increase equitable access to EHS/HS.

** This grant was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Foundation.