STAY CONNECTED DONATE HOME WHO WE ARE ABOUT US About Us For nearly 40 years, Start Early (formerly known as the Ounce) has been a champion for quality early learning and care, focused on closing the opportunity gap for our youngest learners. Jump to... 1982 1985 1986 1990 1994 1997 2000 2002 2003 2006 2007 2009 2010 2011 2012 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 SKIP TO END 1982 The Ounce of Prevention Fund is founded as a nonprofit public-private partnership with matching grants from the State of Illinois and the Pittway Corporation Began providing home visiting services in rural Illinois 1985 Launched our first Head Start programming in Chicago, serving children and families living in the city’s Grand Boulevard neighborhood 1986 Founded the Center for Successful Child Development (also known as the Beethoven Project), a comprehensive early childhood program for families with infants and toddlers on the South Side of Chicago living in the Robert Taylor Homes public housing development 1990 Expanded Head Start operations by subcontracting with other community-based agencies LEARN MORE 1994 Published “Head Start on Head Start,” a special report that helped lay the groundwork for the development of the federal Early Head Start program 1997 Helped advance creation of the Illinois Early Childhood Block Grant, which combined existing funding streams and required a percentage of them to support birth-to-age 3 programs 2000 Opened Educare Chicago, from our roots in the Beethoven Project, an ambitious initiative to serve families displaced by the loss of public housing on Chicago’s South Side LEARN MORE 2002 Based on success in Illinois, began partnering with advocacy organizations in other states to build their capacity to advance policies and increase investments in birth-to-age 5 program 2003 In partnership with Buffet Early Childhood Fund, established the Educare Learning Network, a powerful network of birth-through-age-5 schools across the country LEARN MORE Helped create Illinois’ Early Learning Council to ensure public funds are spent on effective early childhood programs and interventions 2006 Helped make Illinois the first state in the nation to offer quality preschool to all 3 and 4 year-olds via the Preschool for All bill Building on lessons learned in Illinois, began providing policy consultation to early childhood advocates and state and local systems leaders across the country LEARN MORE 2007 Launched the First Five Years Fund, a bipartisan advocacy organization that galvanizes support for greater investment and policies that increase access to high-quality learning and care LEARN MORE Expanded training and technical assistance to over 100 community-based programs in Illinois 2009 Successfully advocated for an increase in the percentage of early childhood funding spent on infant-toddler programs in Illinois Along with First Five Years Fund and other organizations, successfully advocated for a new $4 billion federal investment in early childhood education 2010 Doubled the number of infants and toddlers served in the Ounce Early Head Start program through partnerships with community agencies LEARN MORE 2011 Won a $3 million Investing in Innovation grant from the U.S. Department of Education to explore innovations in leadership development LEARN MORE 2012 Awarded Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant to bring leadership training to 300 programs in Illinois 2014 First Five Years Fund helped convene the White House Summit on Early Education Along with First Five Years Fund and other organizations, successfully advocated for new $650 million federal Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership Grant Program 2015 Launched Achieve OnDemand, an online professional development platform for home visitors and their supervisors (now known as The Essentials of Home Visiting) LEARN MORE Launched Lead Learn Excel leadership development program (now known as The Essential Fellowship) LEARN MORE 2016 Took over as steward of the National Summit on Quality in Home Visiting Programs, a one-of-a-kind convening to address the most critical issues facing the home visiting field. Building off the strong foundation laid by our predecessor, The Pew Charitable Trusts, we continue to enhance the Summit’s quality and broaden its impact and reach LEARN MORE Launched the Partnership for Pre-K Improvement (PPI) — a collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Alliance for Early Success and the University of Washington — to build strong partnerships in the early education field in the areas of program, advocacy and research across three states LEARN MORE 2017 Guided the launch of Family Connects Illinois, a universal newborn support system VISIT WEBSITE 2018 Launched the current five-year strategic plan with a goal of providing more young children from under-resourced communities with high-quality experiences by 2023 2019 Launched a pilot to expand the reach and application of the Early Education Essentials measurement system (now known as The Essential 0-5 Survey). The completion of the pilot and a validation study in 2021 will demonstrate the validity and reliability of the surveys in birth-through-age-5 settings. LEARN MORE 2020 The Ounce rebrands to Start Early — a new name, logo and tagline to better articulate our mission, inspire action and more strongly reflect our expertise and collaboration in the early childhood field LEARN MORE Launched the Early Childhood Connector, a co-designed, collaborative online community for advocates, partners, and leaders to connect and share knowledge, resources and expertise across state lines, disciplines and professions LEARN MORE Opened office in Washington state, building on the state’s national leadership in home visiting and history of promoting early childhood education LEARN MORE ABOUT US Why Early Childhood Our Impact Our Blog & Featured News Careers WHERE WE WORK National Reach Illinois Washington State WHAT WE DO Our Approach Early Learning Programs Professional Development Research Policy & Advocacy Innovation Lab Connecting Communities RESOURCE HUBS For Professionals For Families GET INVOLVED Ways to Give Action Center 33 West Monroe Street, Suite 1200 Chicago, IL 60603 312-922-3863 PRIVACY POLICY DONOR PRIVACY POLICY TERMS OF USE FINANCIALS CONTACT US ©2021 Start Early. 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