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One mechanism for increasing civic engagement is “participatory planning,” a practice growing across an array of places and policy issues. In this brief, participatory planning means bringing impacted people directly into policymaking and decision-making conversations and empowering them to shape the outcomes. People use different terms for this work, such as family and community engagement, community planning, collaborative governance, collaborative planning, and community empowerment.

When implemented well, centralized enrollment systems can boost overall enrollment in publicly funded care and education programs, decrease the burden placed on families, diversify enrollment across early childhood programs, improve and streamline communication with families and providers, and reduce the administrative load for providers. This second brief shares findings from the recently relaunched Early Care and Education (ECE) Implementation Working Group.

Early education in increasingly being embraced as an important public good that should be available to all children because of the enormous social and economic benefits it creates for all of us. Cities, counties, and state governments have responded to the growing call for high quality early education services by increasing public investments, and though early education in the United States is far from universal, significant progress has been made in providing prekindergarten access to young children. However, despite growing demand for services, some areas struggle to enroll families in programs—especially some of the most marginalized and underserved. Outreach campaigns can play a critical role in program recovery and launching new programs.

More and more cities and counties fund and run their own early childhood programs, but each seems to operate them in its own unique way. While the opportunity to design and build a new program can be inspiring, the process itself can be painstaking and fraught with second-guesses. Unfortunately, there are few resources to help policymakers and administrators decide how to set up a new early childhood program. This resource provides foundational information about the design and governance of existing early childhood programs and will help guide the field toward more efficient, effective governance designs. For existing program leaders, this resource could provide insight on how to more effectively navigate and advocate within the constraints of their own governance structure.

Building robust, equitable mixed delivery early childhood systems at the local level requires intentional design.

Even when no playbook exists, there are strategies to smooth implementation. Loose networks of public servants tasked with similar demands emerge to bridge knowledge gaps, sometimes self organizing into more formal structures designed to share lessons, pitfalls, and solutions. The Early Care and Education (ECE) Implementation Working Group — a group of early education program leaders from 18 different locations — is such an effort.

The second blog in our series on the recently relaunched Early Care and Education (ECE) Implementation Working Group shares what's on the minds of local ECE leaders as a new school year begins.

Getting families enrolled in early childhood programs can feel like an uphill battle, with families feeling overloaded by the choices and confused over which programs they may qualify for. Centralized enrollment portals offer a solution but can be difficult to build, and developing them requires both political buy-in as well as technological know-how. In the latest Early Childhood Education brief from the New Practice Lab, we break down how these portals work and what’s required to get one built, leveraging insight from our Early Care and Education Implementation Working Group.

The Early Care and Education Implementation Working Group has officially reconvened to continue the work of the first cohort: a group of municipal, county, and state leaders who are dedicated to effective implementation in early childhood programs. As staunch advocates for the importance of considering delivery when making policy, the New Practice Lab has partnered with the working group to amplify its lessons to a broader audience. We cannot say it enough: implementation is everything, and early care and education is no exception.

The October meeting of the ECE Implementation Working Group focused on the intersection of local electoral politics and early childhood policy. Why talk about local politics in a group focused on implementation? When we surveyed group members earlier this year about what was most top of mind, they highlighted local politics as particularly relevant and timely, and with good reason. In many cities and counties, launching or expanding early care and education programs like universal pre-K is driven by the mayor or equivalent local executive who has the ability to prioritize funding, resources, attention, and support toward implementation.

So what happens when that person leaves office? When a newly elected official brings fresh support for early childhood programs and wants to hit the ground running, what can teams do quickly?

Local politics can hinder or enable effective implementation significantly; therefore, understanding how to navigate changes in the local political environment — and where there may be opportunities to influence how transitions happen — is critical.

Too often, programs aimed at supporting families are developed without their input, creating problems with delivery that result in even the best-intentioned efforts from reaching or being used by the people they should serve. Participatory planning processes can improve program design — not only for the government leaders and administrators responsible for programs, but for the families that ultimately use them. To understand the full scope of lessons about participatory planning, read the full brief here.

With some localities moving faster than states on early childhood education expansion, how can their lessons have an upward impact?

Two leaders share how Denver’s long-time investment in early childhood education helped catalyze a statewide transformation.

Challenges facing the early childhood workforce can feel vexing, but successful efforts to address fair compensation, training, and career pathways offer solutions.

As the new administration gets underway, the Early Care and Education Implementation Working Group takes stock of what to expect and how to prepare.

Local early childhood education program administrators share tactics and strategies to navigate new federal policies.

Ten takeaways from an in-person convening of the Early Care and Education Implementation Working Group

Local leaders can bolster support for early childhood investments with cross-sectoral partnerships, including some unexpected allies.

Head Start plays a pivotal role in local mixed-delivery early childhood systems; cuts to offices and staff are cuts to all kids.