Office of Early Childhood Development: Equity Action Plan
The Office of Early Childhood Development (ECD) is committed to assuring equitable access to high-quality early childhood programs that support children and families and meet their diverse needs. We are pleased to report highlights of how we are advancing equity within our work.
1. Implement a racial equity tool to identify the extent to which programs, policies, practices, operations, and initiatives promote equity, and address existing inequities by February 2023.
As of September 2023 - Developed, implemented, and evaluated an Early Childhood Equity Analysis (ECEA) tool to expand upon a racial equity assessment by including other factors like disabilities, gender, place, and language. The operationalization of ECEA was piloted in six projects from ECD, the Office of Child Care, and the Office of Head Start to shape equity practice and impacts.
2. Expand opportunities for directly impacted parents and early childhood service providers to provide input on policies and practices at the federal and state level by November 2022.
As of September 2023 — Developed a system for parents and early childhood service providers to have sustainable opportunities to -participate in focus groups to gather information on early childhood programs from the user perspective.
3. Engage Tribal leaders and stakeholders to further nation-to-nation collaboration that promotes access to consistent, high-quality and culturally relevant early childhood programs by February 2023.
As of September 2023 — Continued to work closely with eight (8) tribes as part of a new Tribal Early Learning Initiative (TELI) Collaborative to provide intensive technical assistance on their projects.
4. Plan to solicit applications for an early childhood workforce center to equitably promote higher compensation and career pathways for early childhood educators by December 2022.
As of September 2023 — Launched a new National Early Care and Education Workforce Center, funded at $30 million over five years, to support research and technical assistance to equitably improve recruitment and retention through higher compensation, strengthened career advancement systems, and workplace policies.
5. Provide equitable access to career opportunities in the Office of Early Childhood Development and foster an office culture that supports a workforce that reflects the diversity of the country’s children and families by December 2022.
In Progress as of September 2023 — Provided more equitable access to federal government career by hosting Equity Fellows program this Summer, in collaboration with Arizona State University and The Children’s Equity Project.
ECD invites public input on the actions we are taking to advance equity. Input may be emailed to earlychildhood@acf.hhs.gov.
We will provide a semi-annual status update.
ACF is committed to making equity a central part of how we operate and deliver our mission. In 2021, every ACF office committed to equity by creating an Equity Action Plan. Please click here to learn more.