What We Do
Access to Quality Child Care
The first five years last forever. First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level.
Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.
We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities.
We work with policy makers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high quality child care and early learning programs for children.
And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies.
Theory of Change
Birth Through Age Five
FFYF seeks to expand federal support for all early learning and care opportunities for children from birth through age five that are high-quality and focused first on serving children from under-resourced communities.
Integration Across the Work
FFYF employs three core divisions of labor that are intentionally integrated, each playing a central role: Outreach/Government Relations; Policy and Partnerships; Communications/Public Relations.
Consensus Building
FFYF engages in strategic consensus-building, identifying when to lead, engage, or support conversations on both sides of the aisle in order to protect the issue of early childhood education from political polarization. FFYF identifies areas of agreement and carries out education and advocacy efforts to achieve the best possible policies for children and their families.
Short-Term and Long-Term Approach
FFYF employs careful discipline to ensure its positions on short-term policy opportunities do not compromise long-term bipartisan support and funding for child care and early learning for children birth through age five.
Proactive and Responsive Advocacy
FFYF accounts for and adapts to the political and legislative environment in Washington to maximize its influence in a crowded advocacy space. Smart and strategic influence decisions require a nimble and opportunistic approach to advocacy.
FFYF’s Commitment
First Five Years Fund is dedicated to building an early care and education system where all children receive the unique supports they need. Our team strongly values a broad range of backgrounds, ideological perspectives, skills, and life experiences, recognizing this as core to our work. We are intentional in our efforts to create a welcoming, positive, and supportive work environment for everyone.
