Why is Prenatal to Three so Critical?
A child’s brain develops faster from birth to age three than at any period in life, building the foundation for all future learning, behavior, and health. It is critical that we support policies that create and maintain community-wide conditions that allow all infants and toddlers to thrive. The National Collaborative for Infants and Toddlers wants to work with you to educate and advocate for policies that help babies, toddlers and their families thrive.
Be a champion for infants, toddlers and families by supporting policies that support Healthy Beginnings, Strong Families and Quality Care and Learning.
What Policies are needed?
Through comprehensive reviews of the most rigorous evidence available, the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at the University of Texas identified 11 effective solutions, including 5 effective policies and 6 effective strategies, that foster the nurturing environments infants and toddlers need and reduce longstanding disparities.
What's Working?
New Orleans, LA’s Early Childhood Education Millage
Case study on the successful April 2022 campaign in New Orleans that will dedicate over $21 million annually in revenue to infant and toddler care.
50-State Progress and Landscape Report
Each year, the Alliance compiles and trends and highlights report on state-level policy wins in early childhood. Topics include home visiting, early care and education, maternal and child health, family economic security and more.
PN-3 Hub State and Community Spotlights
The State and Community Spotlights share the PN-3 work happening at the state or community level and foster connections.
Every child in every community
For initiatives of all shapes and sizes—whether impacting states or communities, developing legislative or regulatory efforts, building and strengthening programs, or reaching diverse families with a range of needs—consider the following principles for an impactful strategy:
- Put equity at the center of all efforts
- Use data to develop strategy
- Focus on measurable outcomes for infants, toddlers, and their families
- Build political will and support for your efforts with a broad group of stakeholders
- Engage parents to identify needed changes to programs, policies, and systems
- Understand your most powerful levers for change
- Build and maintain the infrastructure needed to achieve impact at scale
