
Policy Executive Leadership Programs
Support the healthy development of young children.
Reimagine Early Childhood Systems
Invest in the whole child.
Leaders like you, from a variety of fields, participate in our programs to understand the issues affecting young children and their families. Our programs focus on developing strategies to implement changes that lead to increased and easy access to high-quality early childhood resources.

Policy Change
Build your knowledge on early childhood to best serve the needs of young children and families in your community.

Distributing Resources
Learn how to improve our systems so communities can access early childhood programs, social services, and funding.
Improving Systems
Understand the structure of programs and services and how policy change can help parents and caregivers easily navigate a complex system and access resources for their children.
Early Childhood Leadership Academy
Our Early Childhood Leadership Academy (ECLA) provides dynamic and collective learning experiences to enhance child development knowledge to inspire policy creation or modifications that lead to positive outcomes for young children and their families.
Barbara Bowman Leadership Fellows
As a senior-level early childhood professional, this program takes public policy knowledge and pairs it with your experience in the field to fortify your skills and elevate your advocacy on early childhood policy. This program considers nominated candidates who are reflective of the communities they serve in Illinois.
Executive Fellows
As a highly influential decision-maker on policies that affect children and families on a local, regional, or state level, this program introduces you to the long-term benefits of quality early childhood experiences and the policy opportunities to improve programs and services for all children and families. Learn more about the program