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Iowa Local Area Early Childhood Development Systems
Early Childhood Iowa Areas enable local citizens to lead collaborative efforts involving education, health, and human services programs on behalf of children, families and other citizens residing in the area. The focus is to improve results for families with young children, ages 0-5 years.
There are 38 Early Childhood Iowa areas statewide representing all 99 counties. Each area has a citizen-led board to support activities to promote collaboration and develop systems in the community for young children and their families.
In their role, ECI area boards develop a comprehensive community plan that includes data gathered through various assessment processes. This information assists the community in planning, funding, professional development and overall support of early childhood programming in the community.
Find the Early Childhood Area that Serves Your County
Tools for Local ECI Systems
Current ECI Priority: Local Public-Private Partnerships
The Early Childhood Iowa Public-Private Partnership is a long-term collaboration between the public and private sectors to promote efforts that build public awareness of the importance of early childhood development. The primary area of this partnership is to create awareness among businesses about the critical role child care plays on retaining reliable, productive employees. Studies consistently show that investments in high-quality early learning programs impact communities. Increase the quality, availability, and sustainability of these programs and services will benefit Iowans by:
- Strengthening families with young children
- Reducing crime and incarceration rates
- Increasing tax revenues
- Supporting effective public schools
- Improving lifelong health
Additionally, there are a number of benefits for Iowa’s private sector. Increasing the quality, availability, and sustainability of programs and services will benefit Iowa businesses by:
- Reducing employers’ recruiting and training costs
- Reducing absenteeism
- Increasing employee engagement and work satisfaction
- Strengthening the quality of Iowa’s future workforce