What We Do

We launch a new early literacy communications campaign, Readers Are Built. The campaign highlights the many ways early literacy skills can be built through everyday activities that can happen anywhere, starting at birth.

Through a partnership with Action Greensboro and the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, the Greensboro region becomes the first Family Forward NC® Certified Community in the state, with more than 46,000 employees working for Family Forward NC® Certified Employers across public, private, and nonprofit sectors.

We engage early-grade educators, schoolwide reading instructional coaches, and literacy experts to participate in our yearlong Implementing the Science of Reading Educator Fellowship, focusing on the challenges to improving reading instruction in their classrooms and schools.

We partner with the NC Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Child Development and Early Education, to update the state’s Birth through Five Strategic Plan.

Family Forward NC® establishes its employer certification program, recognizing North Carolina businesses that offer family-friendly workplace policies supporting the health and well-being of working families and children. Become a Certified Employer—apply today!

The Care and Learning Coalition (CandL) debuts under coordinated leadership from the NC Early Childhood Foundation, NC Child, and Black Child Development Institute-Charlotte (now Black Child Development Carolinas). CandL’s long-term goal is to establish an accessible, affordable, and equitable mixed-delivery early care and education system in North Carolina.

In partnership with NC Child, the EarlyWell Coalition launches as an implementation of Pathways to Grade-Level Reading, focusing on mental health in early childhood. Over the following year, the initiative grows to 12 working groups, releases the Lean In & Listen Up report, and continues emphasizing the importance of building strong, resilient families.

Family Forward NC® launches after interviewing more than 300 NC employers and surveying more than 300 NC employees about family-friendly workplace policies, confirming that these practices benefit both businesses and families. Shortly thereafter, the groundbreaking Guide to Family Forward Workplaces is released, and the first Family Forward NC® Summit is held.

The NC General Assembly forms the Council to create a vision for a birth-through-third-grade early education system. The NC Pathways to Grade-Level Reading Measures of Success Framework informs the legislation, with the NC Early Childhood Foundation appointed to the Council. We release the report, Shared Measures of Success to Put North Carolina’s Children on a Pathway to Grade-Level Reading.

We launch the Local Financing for Early Learning initiative, including trainings and a toolkit for NC communities to pursue local investments in early childhood, in partnership with the NC Budget and Tax Center and national experts.

Partnering with The North Carolina Partnership for Children, NC Child, and BEST NC, we launch NC Pathways to Grade-Level Reading. More than 85 government agency, legislative, foundation, nonprofit, business and community leaders come together to discuss the ongoing effort to inform and support whole-child, birth-to-eight pathways to grade-level reading success. Also in 2015, the NC Early Childhood Foundation is named the state lead of the NC Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.

A blue-ribbon panel of distinguished business, philanthropic, and civic leaders meets to offer advice on the organization’s core principles and strategies and recommend other influential leaders to champion our goals. In partnership with the First Five Years Fund, the NC Early Childhood Foundation conducts a poll that shows 74% of NC registered voters support expanded investments in the state’s signature early childhood programs, NC Pre-K, and Smart Start communities.

The NC Early Childhood Foundation Board of Directors hires the first Executive Director with other staff to follow.

Our First 2000 Days campaign launches to build bipartisan support for investments in a child’s early years. We develop a toolkit and training for NC communities to lead local First 2000 Days campaigns.

We are founded as the state’s only organization focused exclusively on the health and well-being of children from birth through age 8 to convene and facilitate people, analyze and synthesize policy, and communicate the urgency of increased and sustained investments in young children. 501(c)(3) status is granted and the founding board of directors is established the following year, including Dr. Olson Huff as Chair; Susan Gale Perry as Vice-Chair; Dr. Susan Catapano as Treasurer; and Jamaica Pfister as Secretary.