We want your help, your observations, and your ideas!

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, early childhood systems, policy, funding, services, providers, and families adapted and innovated to meet the needs of young children, their families, and communities. These positive changes might inform future efforts to build a more effective, accessible, and equitable early childhood system.

To identify the important ways that early care and education, family support, maternal and infant/child health and other early childhood and family-focused systems and services are supporting our communities and responding to the current health and economic crises, the National Collaborative for Infants and Toddlers is conducting  a scan of public sector leaders, policy analysts and advocates, service providers and other key informants working in states, communities and nationally to 1) understand bright spots of reform during the pandemic, and 2) to capture new ideas to strengthen and build new foundations for systems of care.  

Our focus is on the prenatal-to-age five population (young children and families) with a special interest in systems, services, and practices for infants and toddlers. Ideas generated from this survey will be used to understand and share illustrations of success and change, using those examples to inform ongoing efforts to build effective, accessible, and equitable early childhood systems.  

Take the Building New Foundations survey here to share what you have seen and what changes you would like to see for young children and their families. It will be open until July 31, 2020. Please forward this email to others who might have changes or ideas to share! Access a PDF of the survey here.

There will also be “office hours” offered twice, on July 15 at 12 PM EDT and July 24 at 1 EDT. Please register at the below links if you would like to participate in these optional opportunities to share ideas or examples of positive change via an online conversation instead of through the survey. This is also an opportunity to ask any questions regarding the survey. 

Office hours options include: 

July 15, 2020 12:00 PM EDT. Register here.

or 

July 24, 2020 1:00 PM EDT. Register here.

If you have any questions please contact Michelle Stover Wright, BUILD Initiative, mstoverwright@buildinitiative.org