• Our Mission •
To strengthen and sustain a high-quality prenatal to five early childhood system of programs, services, and supports.
• Our Footprint •
The Early Learning Partnership serves children, families, and early learning programs within the Greater East St. Louis Area, which includes East St. Louis City, Washington Park, and parts of Alorton, Centreville, and Fairmont City.
• Why Early Learning? •
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The first 1,100 days of a child's life significantly impacts their learning, behavior and health outcomes later in life.
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Kids in early childhood programs are more likely to graduate high school and have living wage jobs in adulthood.
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For every $1 invested in early childhood development, there is at least a $7 public return on investment.
• Our Strategies •
• Network Building •
We bring together families, providers, and advocates and equip them to build a strong community for children.
• Promoting Well-being •
We work to ensure kids develop as their age should, have what they need to be successful, and can enjoy being kids.
• Increasing Access •
We advocate for policies and investments to increase early childhood supports for children and their families.
• Ensuring Quality •
We build and support a high-quality workforce and ensure programs meet statewide
quality standards.
• Key Activities •
Week of the Young Child
Every year, we celebrate early learning, young children, and their teachers, families and communities with community classroom, advocacy and family engagement activities.
Ready, Set, ENROLL!
Ready, Set, ENROLL! is our annual community effort that connects expectant parents, parents, grandparents, and foster parents of children 0-5 to high quality early learning programs or home visiting.
Kindergarten Transitions
In 2020, ELP began convening parents, teachers, administrators and other early learning stakeholders to develop a plan that will help children and families more smoothly transition from preschool programs to kindergarten! Subscribe to our newsletter for plan updates.
Early Development Instrument
Greater East St. Louis is part of a pilot for the Early Development Instrument, an Erikson Institute tool that measures the development of young children within the context of their community. The EDI considers how communities can better coordinate programs, services and systems to meet needs of children and families.
