Early Care and Education Workforce Initiative

The Early Care and Education Workforce Initiative was sponsored by Cornerstones for Kids, a nonprofit which manages the Human Services Workforce Initiative (HSWI). HSWI focuses on understanding and improving the working conditions experienced by front line staff in five fields dedicated to changing the lives of low-income children and their families: early care and education, juvenile justice, child welfare, youth development, and employment services. Through a series of analytic, strategic, and catalytic efforts, we conducted a comprehensive review of research, literature, and current practices and policies related to the early care and education workforce. NCCF distilled key issues emanating from the reviews to generate strategic recommendations for policies and practices that could be enacted to improve the conditions of the early care and education workforce. This analysis extended previous early care and education workforce data by objectively reviewing the research, carefully mapping workforce development practices and policies, and analyzing key issues. Working collaboratively with a team of experts, NCCF used these data to create cogent, visionary recommendations for early care and education workforce development.

This project served as the foundation for the newly published volume, The Early Care and Education Teaching Workforce at the Fulcrum: An Agenda for Reform, co-published by Sharon Lynn Kagan, Kristie Kauerz, and Kate Tarrant.

Funding Source: Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Contact: Kate Tarrant, M.P.A.

Current Systems/Governance Projects

Completed Systems/Governance Projects