The CT Early Childhood Funder Collaborative (ECFC) with Office of Early Childhood and Commission on Women, Children & Seniors presented a legislative forum on April 2, 2019, at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. Legislators, funders, and early childhood proponents learned about Ready Nation's recent study, Want to Grow the Economy? Fix the Child Care Crisis; listened to presentation by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston; and heard from an employer and parents on how the lack of childcare impacts businesses and families. Photo 1: L to R: Steven Hernandez, Executive Director, CT Commission on Women, Children & Seniors; Jeff Connor-Naylor, Associate Director, Ready Nation; Sue Murphy, Executive Director, Liberty Bank Foundation; Co-chair, CT Early Childhood Funder Collaborative; and Beth Bye, Commissioner, CT Office of Early Childhood. Photo 2: L to R: Representative Robin E. Comey and Representative Robert Sanchez.
The CT Early Childhood Funder Collaborative (Collaborative) is a project of the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy (CCP) for which CCP serves as fiscal sponsor.
The Collaborative comprises 18 funders from around the state who bring many years of experience in supporting and operating programs that serve the needs of children and families.
*CT ECFC Supporting Partners
Founded in 2011, the Collaborative worked toward the creation of an Office of Early Childhood (OEC) at the state level that merges state agencies serving young children and their families to better integrate systems and services. In 2013, the Office of Early Childhood was created via executive order, and in response, the mission of the Collaborative expanded and became more robust: To bring the collective voice and resources of philanthropy to build and sustain a comprehensive early childhood system that works for all children, families, communities and the workforce in Connecticut.
Mission
To bring the collective voice and resources of philanthropy to build and sustain a comprehensive early childhood system that works for all children, families, communities and the workforce in Connecticut.
Vision
A comprehensive system that is effective, efficient and high-quality that leads to improved outcomes for all children, families, communities and the workforce in Connecticut.
Values
- Alignment of infrastructure, state to local
- Community engagement, citizen involvement
- Cross-sector collaboration
- Public/private partnership
- Address equity issues, social and racial, growing gap between rich, not rich
- Data-informed work and decision-making rooted in fact and in story
- Diversity and needs of individual members of the collaborative
Co-chairs: |
Executive Director: |
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Kimberley Russo |
Lisa Honigfeld |
Carol O'Donnell |
We encourage funders to join our effort. The Collaborative is open to all funders.
Funders contributing a minimum of $7,500 per year are CT ECFC Members and authorized to render all decisions of the Collaborative including those related to grant awards, governance and the work plan and budget. Those providing financial support in lesser amounts with a minimum contribution of $1,000 are CT ECFC Supporting Partners entitled to attend annually two funder focused learning opportunities related to early care and education and receive all ECFC written materials
For more information, contact Carol P. O’Donnell, Collaborative Executive Director, 203-927-5997.
