About Us

Center for Early Learning Funding Equity builds capacity for assessing adequacy and equity in early learning funding systems through research and transformative partnerships.

We create innovative approaches and funding mechanisms that support the diverse needs of children and families. We bring decades of experience in developing and implementing early learning systems at the state and local levels. We are driven by our deep belief in the power of early experiences to shape the trajectory of children’s lives.

 

Please see our Year in Review below to learn more about CELFE’s work and impact.

What is Funding Equity?
Year in Review

Our Work

We support the equitable and efficient allocation and distribution of public funds for early childhood care and education. To ensure that early childhood is funded as a public good, we must think about the entire sector. Funding streams must be considered together, as an interactive, dynamic system. Governance matters. How well these factors integrate bears directly on the quality and accessibility of any system for our nation’s youngest learners and their families.

We create stable, equitable, high-quality systems that support early learning. No equitable outcomes will result until the financing system through which care is provided is itself equitable.

Mapping Funding Equity

Until we know where money actually goes, we can’t talk about how equitable our systems are. We follow money by geography and program, and compare current funding to what is needed to meet every child and family’s needs.

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Defining Funding Mechanisms and Tools

We design funding mechanisms to prioritize the comprehensive and varied needs of children and families. We start by defining adequate funding, then consider all available funding streams and how they work together as a system to achieve adequacy.

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Data Systems

Comprehensive, accurate data is foundational to any system’s ability to meet the diverse needs of children. CELFE supports Chicago and Illinois to implement state-of-the-art Early Childhood Integrated Data Systems.

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Collaboration

We are building a movement to strengthen the field of ECEC financing in partnership with states, researchers, advocates, and providers. CELFE’s work is designed to help states and localities think about financing strategies to build quality programs, stabilize care for families, and support the ECEC workforce.

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Services

We guide and inspire states and communities as they design, transform, and sustain public early education and care systems to be equitable, efficient, and effective. We have worked with states and localities to create funding equity maps, compensation contracts, cost estimation models, salary scales, and more.

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