Tips and resources to support children birth to age five
Why Coalitions?
In my short tenure with the Foundation for Early Learning, I’ve been asked many times why we fund coalitions. The answer is simple: to achieve maximum impact.
There is a famous quote that states “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”. This phrase is very appropriate when describing the Foundation’s coalition development funding focus. We believe that supporting coalitions – one group whose members may include nonprofit organizations, parents, community members, businesses, childcare providers, tribal nations, libraries, and others – helps communities achieve long term, systemic change that positively impacts the lives of more children – birth through five - and families than an individual or organization could reach alone.
When parents partner with providers, libraries with local businesses, more parents are empowered to serve as their children’s first teachers and more children enter kindergarten. The 20 coalitions that currently serve 33 of Washington’s 39 counties are able to develop projects and services designed specifically for the communities where they are located. Coalitions are able to leverage resources and services that they would not be able to access if working individually.
Since the Foundation’s inception in 2000, we’ve served over 100,000 early learning professionals, child care providers, parents, and children. By investing in coalitions, we expect the numbers to continue to increase and for more of Washington’s children – birth to five – to benefit. That, from the Foundation’s perspective, is achieving maximum impact.
There is a famous quote that states “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”. This phrase is very appropriate when describing the Foundation’s coalition development funding focus. We believe that supporting coalitions – one group whose members may include nonprofit organizations, parents, community members, businesses, childcare providers, tribal nations, libraries, and others – helps communities achieve long term, systemic change that positively impacts the lives of more children – birth through five - and families than an individual or organization could reach alone.
When parents partner with providers, libraries with local businesses, more parents are empowered to serve as their children’s first teachers and more children enter kindergarten. The 20 coalitions that currently serve 33 of Washington’s 39 counties are able to develop projects and services designed specifically for the communities where they are located. Coalitions are able to leverage resources and services that they would not be able to access if working individually.
Since the Foundation’s inception in 2000, we’ve served over 100,000 early learning professionals, child care providers, parents, and children. By investing in coalitions, we expect the numbers to continue to increase and for more of Washington’s children – birth to five – to benefit. That, from the Foundation’s perspective, is achieving maximum impact.
Comment
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Comment by Tom Drummond on February 28, 2009 at 10:20pm
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Very few of the 100,000 "professionals" are actually professionals. Professionals get to decide what is important for the client. The client's welfare is paramount. The professional studies for years to come to understand complexity and act into that space. I know of only a few early years educators who are allowed to decide what is important and act upon their experience into that space. Most are told what to do and burdened by accreditation demands that never give them or even allow them space for their voice. Most are treated as stupid and when they meet with foundation they speak and they are not heard. Something is pushing down on them and not allowing their voice. To call most people who work with children age 5 and below, who work for $7 to $16 per hour professionals is a stretch.
At the same time words like the above sound to me like the goodness we bring to Iraq. Marketing a deficient product. Do you know about Sure Start in the UK? Do you know about the development of early learning specialists in New Zealand? Do you know about the way BC is building spaces for children off of a Learning Framework of agreed upon values and goals to use narrative pedagogies to assess and understand children of many cultures, connect with their families, and create new curriculum?
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