Early Childhood Workforce
In order to thrive, all children must receive high-quality, evidence-informed, intensive, and continuous supports for active learning. High-quality early education starts with early educators who have the necessary training and support they need to do their job well.
With generous support from the Foundation for Child Development, the National League of Cities (NLC), through its Institute for Youth, Education, and Families (YEF Institute), is engaged in a project that will contribute to the transformation of the early childhood workforce at the local level. The Cities Supporting the Early Childhood Workforce initiative is helping local leaders strengthen support for the early childhood workforce in their communities.
This initiative is highlighting city innovation around the early childhood workforce and bringing a national spotlight to the importance of the workforce that cares for our youngest citizens. Through peer to peer learning and connection to national experts, NLC is helping local officials strengthen and develop plans that support the early childhood workforce, as well as coordinate key stakeholders who provide education and training for the early childhood workforce.
In order to connect the important work occurring at the local level to state and national efforts to professionalize the early childhood workforce, NLC is working closely in this project with the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE).
The five cities selected to participate in this project include Hartford, Conn., Jacksonville, Fla., Rochester, N.Y., Richmond, Va and Kansas City, Mo. San Francisco, California, and Seattle, Washington are serving as faculty advisor cities for this project.