The Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) is funded by combining state revenue funds that support over 1,000 early childhood programs. Initially, the Infant Toddler Set-Aside was 8 percent of the ECBG. In 2003, the legislature officially changed the set-aside to 11 percent, a change that simply codified the actual dollar amount of funding already going to the set-aside. Approximately $273 million was allocated for the ECBG in 2006, with $30 million in the Infant Toddler Set-Aside. The average grant award to local programs is $140,000.

The Infant Toddler Set-Aside is administered by the Division of Early Childhood in the Illinois State Board of Education, which manages many programs serving children birth to five. The Department of Human Services (DHS) administers the child care subsidy program and operates completely separately from the Board of Education. DHS is not involved in selecting grantees for Infant Toddler Set-Aside funds. Programs that are funded by the set-aside often receive several sources of funding, from many government agencies.

Public Act 093-0380 created the Illinois Early Learning Council to better coordinate services for children from birth to age five. The council also advises the governor and the General Assembly on related issues. Through a grant from the Build Initiative, a group of public administrators (including the Illinois State Board of Education) and private advocates and providers (including the Ounce of Prevention Fund) have been working together for several years on birth to five integrated systems. In addition, state stakeholders meet monthly on coordinating early care and education birth to five, as part of the state’s response to the federal Good Start, Grow Smart initiative. State administrators of child care and education programs, along with the Head Start-State Collaboration office and other state agencies, meet regularly and have developed plans for professional development, early learning standards, training, and a number of other issues that cut across state agencies. State leaders in early care and education also meet monthly for systems planning.

Tying early education and birth to three policies together has been positive for Illinois. The growth of pre-kindergarten increased the funding for infants and toddlers as well, since the funding stream is the same. There was also a strategic decision to support “school readiness” and education initiatives while at the same time pushing for increased support for infants and toddlers. Pre-kindergarten brought about awareness of where kids are prior to kindergarten, including their participation in family, friend, and neighbor child care settings. There is growing awareness among school superintendents of the benefits of supporting families with young children.

Public Act 094-0506 established goals for the Infant Toddler Set-Aside. These include implementation of an Individual Family Services Plan for every enrolled child in need and providing family support and social services in a coordinated way for children birth to three and their families. The state collects information on the status of funded programs, including characteristics of the participants, services delivered, program models used, unmet needs, and results.

The Illinois Birth to Three Program Standards were released in November 2002. The administrative rules are currently being updated to reflect the new legislated requirements.

• Recent unionization of home-based providers could bring more attention to these settings, in which many infants and toddlers are served. Recently, these providers received a rate increase through their union contract.

• Having an infant and toddler initiative in the state Department of Education has led to new understanding of issues in supporting the growth and development of young children and their families. More school superintendents understand the importance of the early years.

• There needs to be more attention to infants and toddlers in child care. Many infants and toddlers are in family, friend, and neighbor care; and there is a need to reach out to these providers.

• There is a need to improve cultural and linguistic diversity and the ability of programs to deliver services that are responsive to the diverse needs of families. In some ways, the attention to this issue that already exists among birth to three programs is now percolating up to preschool-focused programs and schools.

• There is not enough appropriate training and technical assistance that is accountable and responsive to the need for research-based services, which are now required of all programs funded by the Infant Toddler Set-Aside. (Since the original interview, a training institute has been created to provide program model-specific training, more general training on infant and toddler development and working with high-risk families, and technical assistance to funded agencies to implement knowledge and skills acquired in training.)

• Connect pre-kindergarten initiatives to birth to age three initiatives. Think of services for infants and toddlers as a natural evolution of school-readiness programs, and tie them together in planning and funding. There is more support for infant and toddler programs when they are connected to pre-kindergarten.

• Take a broad systems approach that supports healthy development of young children, across all developmental domains, in the context of their families.

• Make collaboration official.

• Be aggressive planners; take a long view in your approach to planning.

• One effective strategy is to start with a small set-aside and then advocate for an increase over time.

• Use research-based models, and collect data to show results.

• Interview with Kay Henderson, Division Administrator, Illinois State Board of Education, Division of Early Childhood, on December 22, 2005.