Early Childhood Education and Care Is an Investment in Our Future

Our Early Childhood Education and Care is Essential campaign reviewed the impact of high-quality programs for children, families, communities and state, highlighting challenges for providers and the workforce. While there is more work to be done, Illinois is making progress in strengthening its early childhood education and care ecosystem, including with the recent launch of the Department of Early Childhood, a unified agency to better support families and providers. And continued investments in programs that help young children thrive and prepare for kindergarten show a commitment to our youngest learners, their families, providers, and the future of our state.  

The research is clear, high-quality early learning programs improve educational, social, and health-related outcomes in children, setting the foundation for long-term well-being and academic success.  School readiness is improved by building cognitive and social-emotional skills that children need to thrive in school. Research also shows that early experiences in the home, in other care settings, and in communities shape the development of a child's brain, particularly in the first five years. High-quality early learning opportunities are essential in giving Illinois’ youngest learners a strong start.   

When childcare is unaffordable or inaccessible, it creates barriers, forcing many families to make difficult decisions, impacting their financial security, and young children’s stability.  In 2026, 69% of children in Illinois have all available parents participating in the workforce, while the average cost of care is $19,807 a year (or $1,651 per month). Studies show that parents of children under age six needing to make job changes due to challenges with childcare, such as leaving or not taking employment. This has led to  $172 billion in lost earnings and productivity each year involving families with children under age five, further impacting the economy. In Illinois alone, $6.2 billion was lost due to childcare challenges involving families with infants and toddlers. Fortunately, programs like the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) help families pay for childcare while parents work or attend school. 

Where families reside plays a role in childcare access. An estimated 49% of Illinois children live in a childcare desert, with disproportionate impacts felt by low-income, rural, Latinx, and communities of color. In Illinois, CCAP participation rates varied widely by region. In some areas of the state, fewer than 20% of eligible children were enrolled, while in others, over 50% participated.  These differences reflect local and regional accessibility, provider availability, and awareness of the program. To support working families and those eligible for childcare cost assistance, reducing childcare deserts and raising program awareness is a necessity. 

The early childcare workforce also plays a pivotal role in the early years of our youngest learners, yet they are chronically undercompensated. Without educators, providers often have to reduce enrollment or close classrooms, creating greater access barriers for families. Investments in early educator pay and benefits are associated with improved retention in the early childhood workforce, stronger program stability, and better educator well-being. The Smart Start Workforce Grant (SSWG) program has allowed providers to improve staff wages while continuing to deliver high-quality education and care.  In addition, providers receiving SSWG have a higher average enrollment of children receiving support through CCAP - increasing equity and enhancing access to families who need it most.   

In recent years, Illinois has laid critical groundwork in early childhood care. With the Department of Early Childhood now a reality, the agency will support the state’s ability to identify gaps, and address challenges within the ecosystem. In addition, the forthcoming Early Childhood Integrated Data System (ECIDS) will bring early childhood data from across programs and agencies together to help Illinois better understand the needs of children and families, improve service, and make more informed decisions. There is also ongoing work to align funding and programming, ensure equity-based funding adequacy targets are set across service areas, and establish a strong regional infrastructure. As Illinois continues to strengthen the future of our state, sustained investments in these programs are critical to ensure every child and family can access high-quality early learning and care so they can thrive and succeed. 

Eucarol Juarez is the Senior Communications Associate at Advance Illinois

What Happens When Children Have Access to Early Learning?

While Illinois has continued progress in expanding access to early childhood education and care, rising costs and workforce challenges continue to impact families and providers. 

This summer, our Childhood Education and Care is Essential campaign will review why high-quality early childhood education and care is essential for a stronger and equitable system. The campaign will discuss workforce compensation, cost of care, equity and access, and the impact on children, families, and communities. 

In the following blog, Annaliese Newmeyer, Educator Advisory Council (EAC) member and Head Start education coordinator, shares her experiences as an educator and how early childhood programs benefit children, how financial pressures can strain families, and what happens when more families can access early childhood learning and care. 

What Happens When Children Have Access to Early Learning?

I have both a professional and personal stake in early childhood education. I've worked in the field for more than 20 years, and I'm also a mother of a 7-year-old and a 10-month-old.  I understand the importance of the first five years of a child's life not only as an educator, but as a parent. 

More Than Preparation for School - A Community of Support

We all know the data around the importance of these first five years and how it impacts a child’s school success.  But early childhood education (ECE) is more than preparing children for school—it provides families with a community of support. We often say that families need a village, and that's exactly what early childhood programs become: a trusted village.   

We connect parents with resources, help them understand child development, advocate alongside them, and create opportunities for families to build relationships with one another.  We do this by observing their children and sharing developmental information at home visits and curating classroom events based on this data.  We learn about their family culture in order to provide classrooms where their child feels seen and supported.  We create extra programming as needed at our sites like a store with hygiene and home goods or a mother support group, where mothers can reflect and grow in their roles as mothers.  We check in on parents in their personal goals, such as finding a new job or better housing, and then providing recommendations and resources.  

At my school, we also intentionally create experiences that bring families together. This past year, we hosted a Garden Kick-Off celebration to open our community garden. Children planted seeds to take home, participated in hands-on art activities, and our local library joined us, so every child left with a library card and a new book.  These events aren't just fun—they create a sense of belonging and strengthen the relationships that help families thrive. It creates connections between families, schools, and neighborhood resources.   

Navigating Systems and Challenges 

We also host school fairs to introduce them to their options for kindergarten, and then we take them through the process of applying for and choosing among 20 schools. For the families I serve, applying to CPS is a complex online application system.  You need to create accounts, manage emails and passwords, research school options, and rank their choices—all a full year before their child even starts kindergarten.  For families living in neighborhoods that have experienced years of disinvestment, including disinvestment in their local schools, this process can be especially challenging. Parents may need to look for schools outside their neighborhood to better suit their child, so they are expected to research schools across the city, understand different programs, and somehow make the "right" decision without the support or resources many families need.  Because we have created a village—our families have the teachers, the family support workers, and the other families to lean on to help make these big decisions that will impact their child for years.   

One experience that has stayed with me involved a mother who came back to our program seeking help for her daughter. Her son had attended our school several years earlier, and during that time we helped her navigate the evaluation process and obtain an IEP for him.  When her daughter began attending a local public school and were told that her needs were too challenging for them, they came back to us, because she knew we would listen, help her understand the system, and care for her daughter with compassion.  That moment reminded me that our work extends far beyond the classroom. Families don't just need quality instruction—they need trusted partners who can help them navigate complex systems and advocate for their children.   

As an early childhood educator, I find myself caught in the middle when it comes to caring for my own infant. I earn too much to qualify for childcare subsidies, yet too little to afford the nearly $2,000 per month cost of a high-quality early childhood program. Like so many families, my husband and I have had to carefully weigh the cost of childcare against our income and make significant cuts to our budget.  We ended up paying a family member and then my husband was laid off and chose to stay home for the foreseeable future to save us some money.  This creates a lot of stress on our family and a lot of pressure on me, being the sole provider.  My husband will also lose out on his career momentum and it could affect him gaining another job.  No family should have to choose between quality childcare and financial security. 

Bridging Community 

Access to high-quality early childhood education benefits the entire family. Parents are able to work, provide for their families, and contribute to the economy because they know their children are in a safe, nurturing environment. They know their children are with adults who will comfort them when they're sad, celebrate their successes, teach them to solve problems, build friendships, regulate their emotions, encourage them to ask questions, and discover the joy of learning. One of the greatest privileges of this work is seeing former students return years later. They proudly tell me they graduated at the top of their class, discovered a love of reading, excelled in math, or earned straight A's. Those moments remind me why this work matters. I am proud to have been part of their village—to have helped them see themselves as mathematicians, authors, scientists, artists, and capable learners long before they believed it themselves.  This is why early childhood education is more than childcare - we are the bridge into our communities, we create community, we are the backbone of our communities, and the investment needs to reflect this.

Early Childhood and Illinois’ New Single Agency

On May 9, 2024, the Illinois General Assembly passed the historic SB1, creating a single Department of Early Childhood by uniting early childhood services into one new agency. This is an important step in supporting Illinois children and their families with the programs and resources they need to thrive.  

Recently, Educator Advisory Council (EAC) members Cara Craig, a Home Visitor with Head Start/ECE Policy at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater/Childcare Network of Evanston, and Michelle Zurita-Sharpe a Pre-Kindergarten Special Education Teacher at Chicago Public Schools discussed their thoughts on the current system and their hopes for the new single agency that SB1 has established. 

How would you describe Illinois’ early childhood education and care system before the passage of SB1? How did that system impact your specific work and how have you seen it impact the children and families you serve? 

Cara: I have been working in Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Illinois for 25 years. I hope that SB1 brings some form of consistency of quality to programs. ECE has such a strong impact on children and their families, and it is not available for everyone. I recently came from teaching in a private school. We served exclusively affluent families, and these families can always find childcare. I now work for Head Start and the disjointedness of choices and availability is very hard to navigate. Having an umbrella for ECE will hopefully bring things together for families, teachers, centers and ultimately children. 

Michelle: Before the passage of SB1, the early childhood education and care system was divided with each agency working to provide similar services in silo. This division created dysfunction in the system for child care providers, families, and workforce members. As someone who went from working in a community-based child care center (CBO) to a public school setting, I experienced firsthand the lack of pay parity that exists for preschool teachers between different settings. I got paid significantly more working in a public-based child care center compared to the CBO despite the fact I followed the same curriculum, had a similar demographic of students, and worked in the same city (a 5-mile difference). In the public school setting, I also worked less hours, had better benefits, and more material support. Contrast to the public school setting, the CBO I worked at had staff that experienced greater financial hardship which contributed to a higher staff turnover rate. The turnover disrupted the educational experiences of children as they were then forced to divide between other classes or tough it out with substitutes that did not know them and their needs. Those of us who stayed were overworked amongst the staffing shortage and could not rely on help from the director, because the director too was overwhelmed navigating the multiple funding streams required to keep the center open and each of the different classrooms in compliance. 

What excites you about the move to a unified agency and why? What concerns you? 

Cara: I am excited about the positive movement towards the importance of ECE, respect for the people who do the hard work of ECE, the need to make it accessible for all. Not that it needs to be the same, but that families have access to what they need. I am concerned it will become a huge unconnected agency that doesn’t understand what is going on in the real world, losing funding, or taking funding from other important things. 

Michelle: I’m excited that the unified agency and Smart Start investments overall will go towards helping child care providers give their staff raises via the Smart Start Workforce Grants and Quality Improvement Grants.   

How will the move to a single agency impact young learners, their families, and providers/educators? How will it impact you? 

Cara: Hopefully it will bring about an understanding of resources and make them streamlined for families, less confusing and easier to access. 

Michelle: This excites me because it is a step in the right direction to retaining current workforce members and hopefully recruiting new ones. 

In your opinion, what will ensure that this is a smoother transition for all involved? Are there any key factors the state should take into consideration to improve and strengthen how the system has worked for providers, families and children? 

Cara: I think that they need to ensure that they have voices from teachers, and families. Being well-meaning is not enough.

Michelle: To ensure a smooth transition, the state needs to center family and educator voices. Providers and classroom-based staff who work directly with children need to be involved at every step of the process. They have the expertise necessary to make decisions that are not just good for children but best for them. 

How will the single agency help your early childhood community? 

Cara: Hopefully access to resources. 

Michelle: Once programs are unified under the Department of Early Childhood, I would like to see the child care deserts in my community be addressed. Where I live, in Worth, Illinois, there is not enough care available for the number of children under 6 living in the town. This requires families to travel farther away or rely on family members to care for their child while they go to work. The same can be said for surrounding neighborhoods such as Steger, Ford Heights, Justice, Hometown, Lemont, and Chicago Ridge.