We know that the earliest years are critical for babies’ current and future health and development, and we know that families with young children benefit from extra supports during this formative, but often stressful time. To understand how to make the best and most urgent case for investments in the types of programs that give children a strong start, the National Collaborative for Infants and Toddlers, funded by the Pritzker Children’s Initiative, partnered with bipartisan research team Hart Research Associates and Echelon Insights to conduct qualitative and quantitative messaging research with policy influencers across the country and on both sides of the aisle.
This guide shares highlights from that research and provides advocates with tips and tools to make the broad case for prioritizing infant and toddler programs and policies.
