Who We Are
The National Collaborative for Infants & Toddlers (NCIT) is an education and advocacy movement committed to ensuring that every child prenatal to three and their families have what they need to thrive.
Why?
When we support them in their earliest years, infants grow into healthy kids who are confident, empathetic, and ready for school and life—and our communities, workforce, and economy become stronger and more productive.
What We Do
That's why NCIT is committed to advancing promising prenatal-to-three policies to create and expand systems of support for families—reaching every parent and child at or before birth.
All children need a healthy beginning, supported families and access to high quality care and learning opportunities.
What Can You Do?
NCIT.org is here to support you in taking action to help all babies and toddlers thrive. Click on advocate, media or policy maker and be taken to areas of the site made just for you! Need something else? Send us an email!
Advocate
It’s only when people like you share their voice can we pass the policies we need at the local, state, tribal and federal level. We can help you learn the issues, how to be an advocate and then take simple, effective actions to support good policies that help every child and family thrive.
Policy Maker
NCIT is committed to advancing the most effective and promising policy solutions and we want to help policy makers with what they need to get these policies passed in their jurisdictions. Education on issues, white papers, access to experts, sample policies. We are here to support you from concept to passage and through implementation.
The Media
The media is key to raising awareness and building support for those policies most critical to raising healthy, happy babies and toddlers. NCIT is here to support print, broadcasting and digital journalists with the info they need to develop and deliver compelling stories on the policies and programs needed to support every baby and toddler and their families. We can help with research, sources, data and copy.
Members
NCIT is 1000s of organizations and individuals, working together to educate and advocate for policies and communities that support all babies, toddlers and families.
NCIT’s work is guided by a Steering Committee comprised of national, state and local organizations and individual advocates committed to our joint work, including:
Featured News
News
$122 Billion: The Growing, Annual Cost of the Infant-Toddler Child Care Crisis
February 02, 2023
ReadyNation’s updated study finds that the nation’s infant-toddler child care crisis now costs $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity, and revenue every year. This staggering economic toll impacts working parents, their employers, and the nation’s taxpayers. Our 2018 study found that the crisis was already severely damaging the pre-pandemic economy, exacting a cost of $57 billion annually. A combination of COVID-19 and insufficient policy action have now significantly worsened the crisis.
News
The Alliance for Early Success Releases the 2022 50-State Progress and Landscape Report
December 05, 2022
The National Collaborative for Infants and Toddlers (NCIT) was created in 2017 as a vehicle to connect a diverse group of advocates, system leaders, philanthropy, researchers, policy experts and practitioners at the federal, state and local level who shared a common interest in addressing the needs of our nation’s youngest children. Developed with initial support from the Pritzker Children’s Initiative, NCIT was founded on the belief that beginning prenatally, every child and their family should have the support that they need for a strong start in life.
In its early years, NCIT focused on raising awareness of the need for stronger and more equitable prenatal-to-three (PN-3) policies and programs, measuring the impact of PN-3 investments and sharing what works to better support infants, toddlers and their families.
By 2022, American Heart Association (AHA), through its Voices for Healthy Kids project, became the steward of NCIT. Within this new home and with access to expanded funding sources, NCIT has been able to build on its original purpose, strengthen its support to advocates and increase its impact on PN-3 investments.
Voices for Healthy Kids, an initiative of the American Heart Association (AHA), provides the staffing and support structure for The National Collaborative for Infants & Toddlers. NCIT supports education and policies that at times are outside the realm of the AHA. This staffing and support should not be construed as endorsement by the American Heart Association.