Insights to Action: Lessons from the Early Childhood Field
Across the country, states and local communities are doing remarkable work to strengthen early education systems—finding creative, practical solutions to longstanding challenges related to funding and the workforce. But what does that work actually look like from the inside? What does it require, what gets in the way, and what do leaders wish they had known going in?
Join New America and the Zaentz Early Education Initiative at Harvard Graduate School of Education to mark the completion of the Insights to Action series—five briefs surfacing promising strategies from leaders across the country. Practitioners and leaders featured in the briefs, along with additional voices from the field, will join us for an in-depth conversation about building and sustaining early childhood funding strategies and workforce supports, sharing hard-won lessons from the ground.
This event is for anyone working to strengthen early education systems—whether you are just starting out or deep in the work.
Speakers include:
- Cara Sklar, Director, Early & Elementary Education Policy, New America
- Emily Wiklund Hayhurst, Assistant Director, Learning Design and Communications, Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative
- Jennifer Headley-Nordman, President, First Steps Kent | Kent County, Michigan
- Larrisa Wilkinson, Deputy CEO (former), PreK 4 SA | San Antonio, Texas
- Ryan Page, Director of Child Care and Co-CCDF Administrator, Division of Family Well-Being and Protection, Iowa Department of Health and Human Services | Iowa
- Susan Jeong, Workforce Initiatives Manager, San Francisco Department of Early Childhood
Lupe Jaime-Mileham, EdD, Deputy Director, Child Care and Development Division, California Department of Social Services - Kim Beckwith, Program Manager, Fresno Unified School District
- Page Tomblin, Co-Director, Oakland Starting Smart and Strong
Presented in partnership with the Saul Zaentz Early Childhood Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.