When I started as the Early Childhood Education Policy Director in 2020, I was excited but intimidated with what I needed to learn about the PA landscape. The Children First 2021-2025 strategic plan gave me a roadmap.
Because of our last strategic plan, we had some big wins (check out our past Annual Reports). But the work is not done. Right now, PA children still sit in underfunded classrooms or wait for months for mental health services. Young people still get locked up unnecessarily, cutting off pathways for future prosperity. Families still struggle to pay bills, like child care tuition.
Building a Brighter Future for Children
Over the next five years, Children First will continue to work on issues that are the bedrock of our identity, such as education funding, healthcare insurance access, and early childhood education.
We will also expand our work in specific ways in order to have a deeper and broader reach, resulting in an even greater impact. Our new work situates children within families and communities, not just systems and institutions, recognizing that the financial mobility of families is intrinsically tied to child well-being.
As detailed in our new strategic plan, Building a Brighter Future for Children, in the next five years our work will focus on three issue areas:
Educational Success: We will fight for high-quality early childhood education, fairly funded K-12 schools rooted in rigorous instruction, and a juvenile justice system that heals young people and prepares them for a thriving future.
Healthy Lives: We will work to get more children insured through Medicaid and CHIP, improve vaccine adherence, protect kids from lead paint and environmental hazards, and build a full continuum of mental health support for children and youth.
Economic Mobility: We will push for paid family and medical leave for every working Pennsylvanian, a child tax credit for families with young children, a foster care system that keeps families stable and does not punish them for poverty, and career and technical education that opens real pathways to prosperity.
This plan is grounded in facts, research, and the lived experiences of families in our communities. It keeps us steadfast in confronting the systems that create racial disparities and block opportunity. And it keeps us rooted in the strategies that have consistently worked for kids and families.
And here’s the part I’m most excited about – how we’ll do it. None of these victories will come from Children First acting alone. Over the next five years, we are committed to building a supercoalition of advocates. That means parents, caregivers, youth, educators, health professionals, business leaders, and public officials from every background and every corner of the political spectrum. When we bring people together around stronger, more effective policies and commit to funding those policies, we win big.
My deepest thanks to the parents, board members, and staff who served on our Strategic Planning Committee. Their wisdom, and their hope, is on every page. Now the real work begins. If you believe every child deserves to grow up supported, confident, and ready to succeed, join us. Be part of the supercoalition.
Contact us at info@childrenfirstpa.org to get connected. Together, we will build a brighter future for children.
