INNOVATING FINANCIAL SYSTEMS TO BUILD CAPACITY FOR INCREASED AND SUSTAINABLE EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION (ECE) COMPENSATION
Compensation
In 2023, The Collaborative awarded $9M in grants to support public systems innovations in increasing wages and benefits for the ECE workforce. These grants will support partnerships between fiscal agencies and program departments in their efforts to implement activities towards long-term, sustained increases to the salaries and benefits of lead teachers and other ECE professionals.
Learn more about the award recipients and their work here.
TRANSFORMING EARLY EDUCATOR LEAD TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS THROUGH MULTI-PARTNER INNOVATION
Preparation
In 2021, The Collaborative awarded seven grants in support of partnerships between institutions of higher education (IHEs) and states/territories/tribal nations to transform their preparation programs for early educators, break down systemic barriers to education for people of color, and increase financial assistance and compensation for students studying to be early educators. The grants, totaling $15.7 million, will strengthen programs that prepare early care and education (ECE) teachers through a competency-based bachelor’s degree.
Learn more about the award recipients and their work.
To support our grantees in their work, The Collaborative engaged School Readiness Consulting (SRC) to develop a learning community to foster peer learning and collective problem-solving.
Access learning community newsletters, expert lectures, and session details.
RAISING CHILD CARE FUND: GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING + COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT
Compensation
In 2020, The Collaborative awarded a COVID-19 Response Grant to the Raising Child Care Fund (RCCF) to support their grantee partners in their work to advocate for effective and equitable solutions that help all early educators thrive. In 2021, The Collaborative awarded an additional grant to RCCF with targeted funding to support ECE workforce grassroots movement building. Additional funding was awarded to expand communications capacity among their grantee partners and support RCCF’s communications strategy. RCCF is an initiative of the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative that pools private foundation dollars to give grants to groups that lift up the voices of families, early educators, and allies—working alongside them to build powerful coalitions to transform child care and expand equity.
Learn more about RCCF and their grantee partners.
COVID-19 RESPONSE: ELEVATING THE EARLY CHILDHOOD WORKFORCE
The global health pandemic and the amplified call to address longstanding systemic racism in America exposed the many structural inequities and instabilities impacting the early care and education workforce. In 2020, The Collaborative awarded four grants to accelerate and deepen our investment in the mission to build an equitable, high-quality early learning system. Grantees:
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- Child Care Relief
- Raising Child Care Fund
- The Urban Institute
- The Zigler Center
Learn more about our COVID-19 Response Grants.