Start Early

Start Early provides high-quality early childhood services for low-income children, birth to age five, and their families, as well as services to pregnant women, through a multi-site network of Early Head Start and Head Start directly-operated programs and partner and delegate agencies in high-needs communities throughout Chicago and surrounding suburbs. In the fiscal year 2023, Start Early directly operated two programs at the Educare Chicago school at 5044 S Wabash Ave and Healthy Parents and Babies at 100 N Western Avenue, and subcontracted with 11 agencies at 21 geographically and racially diverse sites, serving more than 2,300 young children, pregnant women, and their families.

See Schedule OThe Educare Learning Network (ELN) extends the impact of Start Early's extensive early childhood knowledge and expertise in states across the country through consultation and technical assistance on program, public policy and systems work; research and evaluation; organizational capacity building; and philanthropic engagement strategies. ELN is the National Coordinating Office (NCO) for a multi-state collective of Educare Schools across the country, that provides and promotes high-quality, transformative early learning experiences for children, birth to five, and their families from historically under-resourced communities. The Educare NCO and its partnership Educare schools share expertise with local and national educators, researchers and policymakers so they can elevate quality strengthening early childhood environments and family engagement in communities across the country. An avenue used to share expertise is through the Essential Practices of Educare professional development and learning opportunities. This professional development series provides practical instruction to make it easier for center- and school-based program leaders, teachers and family engagement staff to focus their time and resources on cross-cutting practices that lead to improvement at the individual child, classroom, family and program levels. Start Early's National Policy Team advances federal policy priorities through administrative advocacy, indirect legislative advocacy, and activation of those most impacted by early childhood policy.Start Early Consulting provides consulting services in an effort to offer our decades of experience and research in early childhood programming to benefit as many children and families as possible. We offer consulting services and deep early childhood expertise to local and state early childhood government leaders and advocates seeking to build high-quality, equitable systems.

Start Early's Home Visiting and Doula Network annually reaches approximately 1,900 at-risk young children, pregnant women, and their families through our statewide network of home visiting and Doula services. Home Visiting and Doula Network conducts specialized training and technical assistance for 200 early childhood professionals working in 28 community agencies across Chicago and throughout Illinois.

Start Early's Professional Learning programs connect early childhood professionals with the tools and knowledge they need to deliver strong child outcomes. Our portfolio of courses translates field-tested approaches to training early childhood educations into research-validated professional development offerings. From our decades of experience supporting teachers, leaders, and home visitors across Illinois, and the nation, we have designed a portfolio of in-person and online training programs to help early childhood professionals deliver high-quality learning experiences. The Essential 0-5 Survey is an evidence-based measurement system that acts as a catalyst for program improvement delivering transformative results among staff, families, and children. The Essentials of Home Visiting provides home visitor education with relevant topics and a flexible, accredited training experience delivered through a comprehensive catalog of online courses to support home visiting in any model. The Essential Practices of Educare pass on the knowledge and practices from Educare's best-in-class early childhood programs to educators and communities across the country.

Professional Learning Network & Washington State

First Five Years Fund

Illinois Policy Team

Knowledge Navigator

Research-Practice Partnership

Early Learning Lab

National Center

Learning Hub

Other