Early Childhood Initiative

The Early Childhood Initiative is a part of the KIDS PLUS Program that is focused on helping young children, birth to age five, to thrive and have a healthy life of learning, achieving, and succeeding.

The Northland Foundation has established 12 early childhood coalitions in the region to strengthen local resources for young children and their families. They are: Carlton County, Hermantown/Proctor, Aitkin County, Itasca Area, Koochiching County, Mesabi East School District, Quad Cities Area, Hibbing, Two Harbors, Silver Bay, Cook County and Ely. The Northland Foundation provides technical assistance to help each coalition engage a diverse cross-section of community members to create an early childhood vision and action plan.

MECI These early childhood coalitions are part of the statewide Minnesota Early Childhood Initiative...A Campaign for Our Youngest Children, which is directed by the Northland Foundation and the five other Minnesota Initiative Foundations (MIFs). Since its launch in 2002, 80 coalitions have been developed in the state and all are linked through a network of coalition communities.

Key partners in this initiative are Ready 4 K and The McKnight Foundation. Ready 4 K is a nonpartisan statewide campaign advocating for policy change to ensure that all children enter kindergarten fully prepared to succeed. The McKnight Foundation, Minnesota’s largest private foundation, has committed significant financial support to the Minnesota Early Childhood Initiative and Ready 4 K. Additional resources for this statewide effort are provided by corporations, foundations, and local and regional partners.

Funding partners include The McKnight Foundation; the Jay and Rose Phillips Family Foundation; the Buuck Family Foundation; the Robins, Kaplan, Miller, & Ciresi Foundation for Children, a supporting organization of the Minneapolis Foundation; the Otto Bremer Foundation; the Sheltering Arms Foundation; and the Mardag Foundation.

For more information, please contact Lynn Haglin, Northland Foundation Vice President/KIDS PLUS Director. A number of publications about the Early Childhood Initiative are also available for download:

The Early Childhood Initiative Fact Sheet (112 K pdf) provides a two-page overview of the Initiative, why it was created, and its broad goals.
An October 2007 report prepared by Wilder Research, Building Nurturing Communities of Thriving Children (386 KB pdf), examines Initiative strategies and outcomes, linking them with early care and education research and evidence-based practices.
The Lessons Learned 2003-2006 (1 MB) provides background on the Early Childhood Initiative's grassroots organizing process, highlights six early childhood coalition programs from around the state, and summarizes lessons learned over the first three years.
The Early Word is a semi-annual electronic newsletter about early childhood news. To read the most recent issue, click here.