In 2023, leaders in Harris County allocated $16.4 million in Local Fiscal Recovery Funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to launch the Early Learning Quality Networks (ELQN) program. ELQN aims to elevate community voices, foster local solutions, and strengthen local leadership and capacity. Overseen by Harris County’s Early Childhood Initiatives Team, ELQN funded through 2026.
ELQN empowers four Local Network Organizations (LNOs) in five targeted Harris County communities to develop and implement Child Care Quality Action Plans (CCQAPs) tailored to their needs. Through this community-driven approach, ELQN encourages parents, child care providers, and other local stakeholders to identify challenges and opportunities related to early care and education, ensuring that each action plan reflects the unique needs of the community it serves.
The program is supported by a Network Support Hub, Children at Risk, and four local partner organizations: Harris County Public Library, VN Teamwork, East Harris County Empowerment Council, and the YMCA of Greater Houston. These organizations work closely with the targeted communities by forming advisory committees to gather insights on local child care conditions, design Child Care Quality Action Plans, and mobilize resources to implement these strategies effectively.
Sources:
Harris County Public Library. (2023, October 20). Harris County Commissioners Court Boosts Early Learning Initiatives with Child Care Quality Improvement Grants.
Children at Risk. (2024, November 22). Harris County Early Learning Quality Network (ELQN) Announces Next Project Phase to Invest in Early Learning Environments.
Connections to Key Early Learning Study at Harvard (ELS@H) Findings:
Strong infrastructure and systems – including governance structures and data systems – are key aspects of high-quality early education and care. And research suggests there is a need for more accessible, affordable, and high-quality early education within a mixed-delivery system; strengthening infrastructure and systems is one important way states and cities can take action to address these needs and accomplish these goals.
Findings from the Early Learning Study at Harvard (ELS@H) that connect to the need for more robust infrastructure and systems, including data systems:
- Families rely on a range of formal (e.g., Head Start, center-based care, public pre-K) and more informal (e.g., home-based, relative care) early education settings; when choosing a setting for their child, families balance many logistical constraints and personal preferences.
- But for many families – and especially low- and middle-income families – early education choices remain tightly constrained due to issues of affordability and supply.
- No one early education setting type is inherently of higher quality than another; children develop and learn well in every setting type, and in the study, all setting types showed room to grow in quality.
- We have learned a great deal from this groundbreaking, large-scale study. Nevertheless, there is still much to learn about what children, families, and educators need, and about what “works” – for whom and under what circumstances – across all the diverse settings where young children learn and grow.