Making Illinois’ Early Childhood Services the Best They Can Be

Interest Forms are Closed

Over 775 new Interest Forms were submitted for this year’s Council membership and 1,200+ community members are serving this year!

Find your county and click on the link below to visit the dedicated page for your Region where you can:

Read the Early Childhood Regional Needs Assessment and other reports for your community
See who is serving on your Region’s Action Council and Family Council (new members will be posted soon!)
Meet your Regional Team
Sign up for your Regional Newsletter
Join your Region’s Facebook Group
Contact your Regional Council Manager to find out how else you can get involved

If you are unsure of your Region, visit our map page.

Action Councils: Community members with a wide variety of experience, both in and outside ECEC.
Family Councils: Parents and caregivers who care for children aged eight and under.

Birth to Five Illinois works in every community in the State to:

Understand how families are accessing local Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services
Inform decisionmakers and the community of the ECEC services families need
Take action to advance ECEC access and expansion

There are 39 Birth to Five Illinois Regions throughout the State, and each Region has its own Family Council and Action Council.

During our first year, we focused on:

Establishing membership for our inaugural Action Councils and Family Councils
Hosting focus groups and interviews to hear from as many community members as possible
Supporting local stakeholders in coming together to identify the strengths and determine the Early Childhood needs within their own communities
Producing an Early Childhood Regional Needs Assessment for each Region that includes community recommendations for how to improve Early Childhood services for families

In year two, our Councils:

Continued to build relationships with local community members
Shared their Early Childhood Regional Needs Assessments with the community to gather additional input
Supported the community in developing Regional Action Plans based on the recommendations identified in the needs assessment
Released another community needs assessment, focused on Mental and Behavioral Health

This year, the Birth to Five Illinois Councils will:

Share, and collect feedback on, the Mental and Behavioral Health Needs Assessments
Continue to advocate for the successful implementation of activities identified in the Regional Action Plans (using the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) process)
Update the Regional Action Plans to address the needs identified in the Mental and Behavioral Health Needs Assessments
Support the development of the new Illinois Department of Early Childhood