Birth to Five Illinois Partnering for Early Learning

As Birth to Five IL strives to redesign the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) system with families at the center, we are thrilled to announce the launch of our new website: www.birthtofiveil.com.

Visit the site to meet our growing team and learn more about our statewide initiative to recruit a wide range of stakeholders to serve on Birth to Five Action Councils in each of the 39 regions established by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). Based on input and efforts of the Birth to Five Councils, early childhood policies and programs will be co-created by families, providers, and local communities who will have ongoing leadership roles in the implementation and monitoring of progress.

Registration is also live for our virtual, regional kick-off events taking place February 1-5, 2022! Illinois parent and families, community members, child care and Head Start providers, business owners, elected officials, school board members, early childhood educators and advocates – please join us! Everyone is welcome.

During these one-hour sessions, we will:

• Build regional stakeholders’ knowledge of early childhood education and care (ECEC),
• Introduce data and services within each region, and
• Encourage all to begin to think about ECEC at the regional level.

The Birth to Five IL virtual kick-off events will be held from 6-7pm on February 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in English, and there will be a Spanish session on February 4th from 10-11am. The registration page has a list of virtual regional launch dates by county; you will automatically be assigned your region’s Zoom room when you register.