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Executive Leadership

Policy Executive Leadership Programs

Shift power, voice and perspective to the lived experiences of communities of color.

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Reimagine Early Childhood Systems

Ensure equity and investment for 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 specifically those from communities that have been historically marginalized. Our programs focus on developing strategies to implement systemic changes that lead to equitable access to high-quality early childhood resources.

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Policy Change

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

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Distributing Resources

Learn the barriers historically marginalized communities experience accessing early childhood programs, social services, and funding and how to improve the distribution of those resources.

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Systems Change

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

Build Your Knowledge in Child Development, Policy, and Racial Equity

Our Early Childhood Leadership Academy (ECLA) provides dynamic and collective learning experiences to enhance racial equity and child development knowledge to influence early childhood policy that leads to positive outcomes for young children and their families.

Barbara Bowman Leadership Fellows 2018

Barbara Bowman Leadership Fellows

As a senior-level early childhood professional, this program takes an anti-racism approach to 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.

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Executive Fellows 2022

Executive Fellows

As a highly influential decision-maker on policies that affect children and families on a local, regional, or state level, this program uses an anti-racism approach to introduce 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.

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Decolonizing Data and Language

Advancing Racial Equity and Systemic Solutions

This two-part workshop series explains how deficit language is dehumanizing and deflects from the structural racism and flaws baked in our systems and offers ways to effectively use data to illuminate systemic barriers and reveal root causes.

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Policy Leadership Since 2009

26
Honorary and Illinois Early Childhood Fellows and Senior Leaders
56
Barbara Bowman Leadership Fellows
106
Executive Fellows

Tailored Learning Experiences and Coaching for You or Your Organization

You are able to engage in a safe space for people to learn, express their thoughts and share ideas.

Workshops can be tailored according to professional development needs and can incorporate activities, breakout groups and follow-up materials or resources. Project consultation is also available. Subject areas covered include but are not limited to:

  • Developing an anti-racist approach to your work
  • Understanding the public policy cycle
  • Focusing on root causes and systems change
  • Decolonizing data and language
  • Ensuring diverse representation and community voices in decision-making
  • Data literacy for data justice

Find out more about consultative services

Use a Holistic Approach to Data to Inform Advocacy Efforts

Centering the people with the lived experiences captured by data is a critical component of data literacy.

Erikson’s approach to data literacy helps you amplify community ownership in shaping the narrative around data to fully understand its meaning and better inform advocacy efforts.

Explore Data Literacy Coaching