Bringing Chicago’s Early Childhood Community Together

On June 10 in downtown Chicago, nearly 250 attendees gathered for the city’s first early childhood research conference in seven years. Hosted by the Early Childhood Research Alliance of Chicago (EC*REACH), the launch conference brought together almost 100 researchers and 70 educators and service providers, along with policymakers, early childhood thought leaders, funders, and community organizers. They represented over 100 different organizations and institutions around the city.

Highlights included keynotes from Vivian Tseng of the Foundation for Child Development and Cristina Pacione-Zayas, chief of staff to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. They bookended a conference focused on discussions around key community and research issues. In her keynote remarks, Pacione-Zayas argued that this is a “pivotal moment” for early childhood work due to additional investments from the city and state.

“This event alone, I'm sure will propel new research as well as deepen and extend the partnerships between researchers and community,” Pacione-Zayas said.

Conference panels centered on issues such as the early childhood education and care workforce, supporting new migrant families with young children, and maternal and child health. The EC*REACH team designed the program to bring together key leaders—including researchers, policymakers, and advocates—to support the connection between research and practice.

EC*REACH executive director Maia Connors also outlined the citywide research agenda created by the alliance and its partners outlining future directions for early childhood research. The agenda highlights the need for research that helps Chicago’s early childhood community improve and reduce inequalities in children’s learning and development, children’s health and wellness, and the early childhood workforce. This research, Connors explained, should focus on Illinois’ priority populations, historically marginalized groups, and new migrant families with young children.

“We hope that this agenda will focus our attention and coordinate our efforts so that what we're doing is moving in a direction that can make real change,” Connors said. “Ultimately, we hope that all of us will use research more often to build a stronger early childhood ecosystem.”

Led by faculty co-directors Terri Sabol and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, executive director Maia Connors, and senior advisor and advisory board chair John Q. Easton, EC*REACH seeks to be a research hub for Chicago and is housed at the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) at Northwestern University. The research alliance stands on three pillars: conduct rigorous research, harness data for research, and gather and connect the early childhood community, with the mission to find research-powered answers to community-driven questions.

“What we seek to do here at EC*REACH is bring everyone together to make this work a little easier for all of us,” Sabol said.