When it comes to establishing and implementing voter-approved children’s funds, there is no one-size-fits-all. The variety of approaches and designs reflect the unique conditions in each community and create opportunities for innovation. Leaders in our voter-approved children’s funds community of practice are visiting three voter-approved children’s funds in 2024 to learn from one another about their fund’s similarities, differences, and innovations. Our first site visit took us to the Denver Preschool Program in Colorado in April. Then in July we continued our learning journey with a visit to Cincinnati Preschool Promise in Ohio. 

Cincinnati Preschool Promise was created through a voter-approved Cincinnati Public Schools levy in 2016 and was reauthorized in 2020. The school levy dedicated $15 million annually to expand access to high-quality preschool. Since 2017, Cincinnati Preschool Promise has provided tuition assistance to more than 12,000 preschoolers (ages 3 and 4) at more than 178 eligible community-based, private, and public preschools. The program’s impact speaks for itself—participating in the Cincinnati Preschool Promise Tuition Assistance program significantly increases the odds of being on track in language and literacy in kindergarten by nearly 54%.

Over 30 attendees joined us in Cincinnati, including members from our voter-approved children’s fund community of practice, state and local early childhood advocates from across Ohio, Cincinnati community leaders, and leaders hoping to establish early childhood funds in other parts of the country. We kicked off the site visit by visiting the Early Childhood Education program at Cincinnati State and the William L. Mallory Early Learning Center (the Learning Center) located on the campus. The co-location of the Learning Center and the Early Childhood Education program is an innovative strategy that allows students pursuing an associate’s degree in early childhood education to get hands-on experience in a learning lab, while also improving access to quality early care and education for students at Cincinnati State. Cincinnati Preschool Promise provides Teacher Completion Grants to students in the Early Childhood Education program at Cincinnati State as part of its work to create and support a robust early childhood workforce. (Many graduates of the Early Childhood Education program go on to work in preschool settings that serve Cincinnati Preschool Promise students.) It also provides tuition assistance to some students at the Learning Center. The program is a remarkable example of a community approach to building the supply of high-quality preschool educators.

The site visit continued with presentations and conversation about the ABCs of the Cincinnati Preschool Promise: 

A. Access to affordable quality preschool.
B. Building the supply of high-quality preschools.
C. Contributing to an equitable early childhood ecosystem, including worthy wages for teachers.

Participants discussed Cincinnati Preschool Promise’s unique position as part of a school levy, family outreach and enrollment, provider engagement, and potential strategies for a statewide early care and education system.

Below are three takeaways from the site visit.

1. “Get in where you fit in and contribute the most you can.”—Chara Fisher Jackson, executive director and CEO, Cincinnati Preschool Promise

No voter-approved children’s fund is established in a vacuum, and figuring out what role a new fund should play within a fragile early child care system poses significant challenges. However, Executive Director and CEO Chara Fisher Jackson encouraged the group to jump in where their funds could support the existing child care system and provide solutions. Particularly, the group discussed finding partnerships where a fund could accelerate good work, such as the Cincinnati State Early Childhood Education program and early learning center described previously.

2. “We can’t just do a good job, we have to tell everyone we’re doing a good job!”—Micah Kamrass, board chairperson, Cincinnati Preschool Promise Board of Managers

Long-time Cincinnati Preschool Promise Board of Managers member Micah Kamrass shared the crucial role of communications in nurturing ongoing support for a voter-approved children’s fund. Without strong and proactive communication by the fund, the taxpayers who support the fund (and may vote on its reauthorization) won’t know where their dollars are going, and community leaders and early childhood partners won’t know whether the fund is living up to its intended purpose. Maintaining crucial relationships and building long-term support for early childhood as a public good requires ongoing communication, even when there are no votes on the line.

3. “When planning out your implementation, pilot, pilot, pilot.”—Rev. John C. Jones, president, HOPE Toledo

Site visit participant John Jones joined us from Toledo, OH, where he is working to secure sustained funding for expanded early childhood education, potentially via a voter-approved early childhood fund. He shared that piloting HOPE Toledo Pre-K allowed the community to test the feasibility and effectiveness of the program and establish relationships with community-based providers and other partners. The program also built public support for and investment in high-quality preschool, as demonstrated by Lucas County’s investment of $1.5 million of American Rescue Plan funding into the expansion of current pre-K programs through HOPE Toledo. Providing a real-life demonstration of what your community can accomplish allows you to paint a picture of what your community could achieve with long-term stable funding from a voter-approved children’s fund.

We look forward to closing out our 2024 site visits in September at Multnomah County Preschool for All in Portland, OR!

Children’s Funding Project’s voter-approved children’s fund community of practice and our series of site visits are supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. We’d like to give a special thank you to Patti Gleason, Tracey Rowe, and Neferteri Gaskin of Learning Grove, for opening their doors and allowing us to tour the William Mallory Learning Center. Lastly, we extend our deepest gratitude to Cincinnati Preschool Promise for supporting our visit and the Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, particularly Dean Geoffry Woolf and Kelly Hubbard and their teams for engaging with our attendees and providing an exceptional lunch by students in the Culinary and Food Science program.

Marina Mendoza is senior manager for early childhood impact and Olivia Allen is co-founder and vice president of strategy and advocacy at Children’s Funding Project.