It’s refreshing, in divisive times, to find something that unites us — something so basic and sensible that almost everyone holds it in high regard. Consensus is hard to come by, and the list of things that bring us together can seem distressingly short.
But increasingly, early childhood programs are making the cut. From parents and politicians to voters and venture capitalists, there’s a growing national awareness of the importance — and effectiveness — of supporting America’s youngest learners. And according to the latest survey from Grantmakers for Education, foundations are following suit.
The study, “Trends in Education Philanthropy: Benchmarking 2018-19,” documents the explosion of philanthropic interest in early-childhood development Among the 91 grant makers surveyed, one-third reported funding such efforts. Of those, well over half anticipated increased support in the next two years, the highest percentage among all the education priorities tracked by the survey. Grant makers also rated early-childhood programs among the highest-impact areas of focus for grant making.
At the Grable Foundation, a Pittsburgh philanthropy dedicated to improving the lives of children, we’re heartened by this burst of energy and commitment. Philanthropic interest in early learning has clearly reached a tipping point, and it’s no wonder why: The evidence that it works is overwhelming and grows more convincing by the day.
According to data compiled by the First Five Years Fund, young brains form more than one million new neural connections every second. During this flexible, formative time, early learning experiences can have a profound effect on young children, with benefits that last a lifetime. Kids who participate in high-quality programs develop greater capacity for cognitive and social-emotional skills like collaboration, communication, and perseverance — skills that improve school attendance, grades, and more, as the Aspen Institute details in a recent report. They’re more likely to graduate from high school, more likely to earn a college degree, and more likely to own a home. They’re also more likely to live healthy lives, both physically and mentally.
‘Wired’ to Succeed
The stakes are even higher, and the benefits more pronounced, for kids growing up in poverty. Researchers have found that sustained exposure to toxic stress and trauma can affect the very wiring of young children’s brains, putting kids who are already disadvantaged at a greater risk for developmental delays. Such delays have been linked to a range of problems, including poor academic achievement, substance abuse, and diabetes.
The good news, though, is that by providing stability, safety, and supportive relationships, high-quality early-learning programs can mitigate these risks and even reduce the damage done by stress. In a nation in which nearly half of all children come from low-income families and student homelessness has hit an all-time high, supporting such programs may be our best hope for improving individual lives and lifting society as a whole.
That’s why we’re so optimistic about the trends in the Grantmakers for Education report and why we hope grant making will quickly catch up to foundations’ interest.
At the moment, early childhood spending gets just 4 percent of foundation dollars, despite wide and growing support for the cause. Grant makers aim to raise that number in the coming years, but the twin challenges of expanding access and improving quality are daunting. Only two-thirds of American 4-year-olds are enrolled in early-learning programs, a figure that hasn’t moved much since the turn of the millennium. Less than a quarter of those programs are considered of a high quality. And where great programs do exist, kids from low-income families are far less likely to secure a spot.
Leading the Way to Public Policy
This is where grant makers can help. Though it’s true that philanthropy cannot (and should not) be a substitute for adequate government funding, here in Pennsylvania we’ve proved that what foundations do today can lead to better public policy tomorrow. The Grable Foundation and other grant makers in the state — including the Heinz Endowments in Pittsburgh, the William Penn Foundation in Philadelphia, and the Vanguard Strong Start for Kids Program in Malvern — have stepped up to play a catalytic role for which foundations are well suited. By supporting and sustaining small organizations with big plans, foundations here have boosted early learning’s place on the state’s policy agenda and set the stage for systemic transformation.
Consider just a few of the examples highlighted in the Grantmakers for Education report:
- The Pennsylvania Early Learning Investment Commission urges the state’s business leaders to use their prestige and expertise to garner support for early-learning programs among the public and policy makers. (Early learning is, after all, an issue of economic development: For every dollar invested in high-quality programs, society reaps more than $7 in return.) Supported solely by foundations at first, the commission now has more diverse revenue sources, allowing it to expand support for early learning well into the future.
- A foundation-supported advocacy campaign called Pre-K for PA works toward the day when every child in the commonwealth has access to free or affordable high-quality pre-kindergarten. In the five years since the campaign began, state investment in early learning has more than doubled.
- Foundations also tested a policy fellowship in Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning. The fellowship, which helps emerging leaders in education navigate the complex systems that shape early learning, has been so successful that after three years the state has agreed to fund the majority of the project going forward.
None of this would have been possible without catalytic support from foundations. And there are countless examples beyond Pennsylvania. In states and cities across the country, foundations are investing in and advocating for their youngest learners, often at the regional or local level. In fact, nearly three-quarters of the foundations surveyed by Grantmakers for Education said their local policy environments are “moderately” or “very favorable” to policies consistent with their priorities.
The result is that foundation-led efforts are achieving real results and in some cases leading to large-scale change. It’s no coincidence that from California to Rhode Island, governors are catching on, proposing everything from expanded home-visiting programs to universal pre-K.
Whether these proposals will come to fruition remains to be seen. But at a time of deep division, it’s encouraging to see leaders from both parties put young learners where they deserve to be: at the top of our country’s priorities.
Foundations helped to start this sea change. Together, let’s make sure we see it through.
Gregg Behr is executive director of the Grable Foundation and chairman of Grantmakers for Education. Kristen Burns is associate director of Grable.
