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Dear Friends,
Last week, Early Edge had the privilege of hosting our Early Learning Tour in Chicago for a passionate group of California Early Learning champions. We were there to gain knowledge from our peers in Illinois about their successes in building high-quality systems for infants and toddlers--and we truly did. We’re bringing back so much valuable information to our state to support the collective efforts in improving the quality of our Early Learning and Care system.
 One central lesson we take away from our time in Illinois is how the state comes together to support children in their earliest years. It was encouraging to see that Early Learning is not treated as a separate bucket in Illinois, but that it’s part of an integrated approach across various sectors including early childhood care, health, and mental health.
Perhaps just as critical as what we learned is how we learned on our tour. The panel discussions, table talk conversations, and site visits brought ECE peers face to face for exchanges that strengthened our connection around the shared goal of supporting our youngest learners to experience the best possible start in life through quality care and learning programs.
In order for us to succeed in helping kids, we need to work together. These types of tours give us the opportunity to do that. We hope to continue the work we started in Chicago by hosting more of these local and cross-state tours to really build bridges between legislators, advocates, unions, foundations, school districts, and child care agencies.
Please take a few moments to explore the articles below in this special issue of our newsletter to learn more about our experience in Chicago and some of our initial takeaways.
Special thanks goes to Heising-Simons Foundation and First 5 LA for their generous support in making this tour possible, and to the Early Edge California team for your commitment to designing a comprehensive learning event highlighting the innovations happening in Illinois.
We also thank our participants, partner organizations, and panelists for making this experience so special, and for your dedication as Early Learning champions.
I would like to end by saying that this experience underscored the value of partnership, not only among our participants from California, but with our cross-state colleagues. Because of the tour, we are building stronger relationships among our ECE champions.
Gracias!
Patricia Lozano
Executive Director, Early Edge California
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