Moving Forward Together: Centering Racial Equity in Early Education and Care

So often, as leaders working to create a more equitable early childhood system, we are confronted with the reality that there is no clear solution to neatly repair the damage done by a system that was designed to be inequitable. While all families want and deserve the best early care and education for their children, the opportunities to access settings that meet families’ needs and drive toward positive child outcomes are distributed in highly uneven ways–especially along the lines of race, income, and place.

Built around the perspectives and experiences of early childhood stakeholders of color, Side by Side: Centering and Promoting Equity in Early Education is an invitation to join the ever-evolving story of transformation within the field. This interactive playbook contains guidance particularly for state systems leaders, policymakers, funders, community leaders, and advocates. It offers solutions to take more immediate action on the national, state, and local levels, as well as a vision for long-term collaboration amongst communities. Each chapter is informed by the wisdom, perspectives, and lived experiences of families, ECE providers, and community leaders. Their voices not only speak their truth about the distance between what our children deserve and what is currently being offered, but also provide hope and a vision for an early childhood system that truly honors, values, and supports every child. In addition to centering these important insights, the playbook outlines resources and ideas for what can be done to address the issues at hand.

• From Chapter 1, Setting Young Children on a Path to Success—the necessity in making quality child care available and accessible in all communities. Parent Erike De Veyra shares the experience of trying to find care for her young daughter. “I remember it was like, ‘What do we cut out so we can pay for daycare, or do we just put it on the credit card and just cross our fingers?” Learn more about Erike’s thoughts in her video here.
• From Chapter 2, Where Early Childhood Education Meets Race and Culture—the importance of creating trusting relationships both inter- and intra-culturally. ParentChild+ Pennsylvania State Director Malkia Singleton Ofori-Agyekum prioritizes this approach in her work every day. “To be culturally responsive means to be aware of what culture you’re working with. Especially if it’s different than your own, but even if it’s your own culture, understanding whoever you’re interacting with, how do they define certain things?” Learn more about Malkia’s perspective here.
• From Chapter 3, Authentic Partnership for Meaningful Change—the need in ensuring early education programs are totally linguistically accessible for all families. Parents Laura Elizabeth and Ángel Hernández, who primarily speak Spanish, recount the wonderful and supportive environment they’ve experienced at Charlotte Bilingual Preschool. They also speak to the difficulty in staying as active in their children’s education in the English-dominant public school system. “It’s not that we don’t want to learn English; we are attending the actual classes…[but] we see that [our children are] progressing, they’re going to be more bilingual…they’re getting older and the homework is getting harder and harder.” Learn more about their experiences here.
• From Chapter 4, The “Workforce Behind the Workforce”—the impact of investing in many different support roles (including for parents and guardians themselves) as part of a healthy community ecosystem. Peer Support Specialist at the Support Team for Educational Partnership (STEP) Allegra Simms-Marshall embraces this role and proactively ensures she is the most informed person around about any matter affecting the families with whom she works. “I sit on a lot of boards. I’m very involved. I partner with the Free Library of Philadelphia, anything that has anything to do with parents.” Learn more about Allegra’s approach here.
• From Chapter 5, Telling a More Hopeful Story—the urgency in reconsidering the ways organizations present data and stories, especially about communities of color. Executive Director at First Up Carol Austin knows storytelling is incredibly powerful for both positive and negative impressions. “There’s a place…to ensure that there are success stories [too], to ensure that we talk about the assets that are available in communities, what those communities come with, and to start there.” Learn more about Carol’s mindset here.

Indeed, there is no magic policy or influx of funding that can remedy the complex and interlocking factors that drive inequity in early childhood care and education. Rather, the pursuit of a more equitable early childhood system is a story that is constantly unfolding–and one in which each one of us plays a critical role. And the collective of dedicated leaders working on a national, state, community, and programmatic scale are the ones with pen in hand, able to write a new and better reality through the decisions we make within our respective spheres of influence every day. The question is, are we wholly committed to dismantling the inequities we know exist in our individual and organizational spheres? Do we recognize the collective power that we have as leaders and stakeholders unified with a single vision? And are we ready to listen to, learn from, and partner with leaders of color within early childhood communities across the nation who have committed to realizing a better future for all young children every day?

Each of us is part of the story. We at SRC, alongside all of the partners who provided their collaboration on this playbook, hope this resource supports our collective action towards equity and justice within the early childhood system.

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