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Thursday, April 30 | 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM | Edison D & Foyer
Registration & Breakfast | Open Networking Tables
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Thursday, April 30 | 9:00 AM – 9:30 AM | Edison D
Welcome Back & Framing the Day Ahead
- Denise Castillo Dell Isola, Program Director, Early Childhood, Irving Harris Foundation
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Thursday, April 30 | Beginning at 9:30 AM
You Have Skills and Power. Use Them. | Skills & Strategy
Concurrent Sessions [Round 1)
Concurrent sessions will feature case studies and practical tools focused on strategies that protect children and families, including:
- Approaches that can be adapted or reimagined for this moment
- Tools to strengthen or reshape strategies amid shifting conditions
- Approaches demonstrating momentum over the past year
Co-Strategists for Change: Building Power With (Not For) Communities | 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM | Edison D
This year has made clear that we must be prepared to respond in many ways to defend children and families.
In this interactive session, led by ECFC’s Raising Child Care Fund grantee partner SPACEs in Action, participants will engage with fictional but timely scenarios to strengthen skills and consider strategies for assessing immediate needs, navigating risk, and approaching organizing and communications.
These scenarios offer a space to test ideas with peers. There are no right or wrong answers, only the opportunity to learn together with ECFC member colleagues.
Participants will have the opportunity to:
- Reflect on your role in power dynamics between institutions and communities
- Recognize how funding relationships can either reinforce or challenge inequities
- Name key practices that center community leadership in decision-making and strategy development
- Apply principles of co-strategizing with grassroots partners
- Apply active listening and storytelling to connect to early childhood issues
For those who have attended similar ECFC sponsored sessions in the past, this session will offer an opportunity to practice your skills on a new scenario AND build your storytelling skills!
Speakers [Bios]
- LaDon Love, Executive Director, SPACEs in Action
Related Resources:
- LinkedIn: LaDon & SPACEs in Action | YouTube | Instagram
- It's Your Story, Tell It | ECFC members share their experience with this SPACEs in Action facilitated session on active listening and storytelling at the May 2022 ECFC Member Meeting (YouTube, 2 minutes)
Money Matters: Unlocking Early Childhood Success through Revenue and Tax Policy-a Funder's Role | 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM | Wright
Early childhood funders deploy a wide range of strategies to improve outcomes for children and families. One of the most powerful tools is often overlooked: the tax code.
With the passage of H.R. 1 and significant funding losses facing states, the stakes are high. A well-designed state tax code does double duty. It generates the revenue needed to sustain family support programs and puts money directly back into parents’ pockets through targeted tax credits.
Join Pritzker Children’s Initiative, Buffett Early Childhood Fund, and United Methodist Health Ministry Fund for an interactive, hands-on session that demystifies how the tax code works in practice. No expertise required.
Participants will connect early childhood investments to revenue and tax policy and leave with concrete strategies for incorporating tax credits and revenue approaches into their funding portfolios. The session will also focus on building from existing investments and strengthening connections across the systems that shape children’s and families’ lives.
This session builds on the ECFC virtual meeting held on April 15, 2026 (Recording available here).
You'll walk away with:
- Lessons learned from early childhood funders already using tax-focused strategies to advance their goals
- A clear picture of opportunities to scale your impact through tax credits and tax-system-focused approaches
- New peer connections and space for collaboration and action planning
Speakers [Bios]
- Shannon Cotsoradis, Director, Policy & Strategy, Buffett Early Childhood Fund
- David Jordan, President and CEO, United Methodist Health Ministry Fund
- Michelle Martin, Field Coordinator, The Ford Family Foundation
- Ami Nagle, Director, Tax Equity Funders Network
- Sarah Pray, Executive Director, Better Taxes for a Better America
- Kathy Stohr, Program Officer, Pritzker Children's Initiative
Related Resources:
- Webinar: Refund the Future: Because the First Five Years Don’t Fund Themselves, ECFC April 15, 2026 previews why this matters to early childhood.
- Tax Equity Funders Network’s resource hub on Advancing Tax Systems that Work for All, explores what we mean by tax systems, what they mean for children and families, and issue areas impacted by tax policy.
Rooted in Community: Advancing Family Well-Being, Resilience, and Self-Determination | 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM | Edison F
What does it take to build a connected civic ecosystem that families can rely on, especially in moments of crisis, transition, and change?
This session explores how hyperlocal, trust-based organizations are strengthening civic ecosystems for families with young children, and what becomes possible when nonprofits, funders, and community leaders align around coordinated, family-centered networks, services, and spaces.
Through the story of the Hilltop Empowerment Collective, a network of 25 nonprofits serving three Pittsburgh zip codes, and Hello Neighbor, one of its partners supporting newly resettled refugee and immigrant families, participants will learn how funders and practitioners co-designed a shared strategy grounded in collaboration, accessibility, and lived experience. Examples from this work, including unexpected outcomes such as eviction prevention sparked through community relationships, highlight the power of coordinated, trust-based approaches. Monthly convenings support shared planning across funders and nonprofit leaders, while neighborhood events intentionally build relationships between families and service providers.
Through the lens of the Native American Youth and Family Center, participants will also explore how community-driven, culturally rooted programs can evolve into comprehensive systems of support. From early childhood programs such as home visiting and playgroups to partnerships that connect families to education, housing, and other essential services, this work demonstrates how multi-generational, community-centered approaches can meet immediate needs while advancing long-term well-being.
Together, these examples show how community-designed and community-led efforts are both relational and operational, grounded in trust, reciprocity, and shared leadership.
Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of common elements across this work, including:
- Community-centered spaces, services and networks that provide safe, welcoming, and multi-generational spaces that strengthen social connections, and provide pathways to success and leadership for children and families.
- Coordinated leadership and alignment, and cross-organizational collaboration that fosters deeper trust in the community and builds responsive support infrastructure for families.
Speakers [Bios]
- Kate Brennan, Project Director, The Hilltop Empowerment Collective
- Michelle Figlar, Executive Director, Birmingham Foundation
- Laura Johns, Senior Advisor, Birmingham Foundation
- Tawna Sanchez, Director of Family Services, Native American Youth and Family Center
- Rachel Vinciguerra, VP of Programs, Hello Neighbor
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Thursday, April 30 | Beginning at 11:15 AM
You Have Skills and Power. Use Them. | Skills & Strategy
Concurrent Sessions [Round 2]
Building Infrastructure for Change: Reaching Young and Anxious Audiences Through Creators | 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM | Wright
Building Infrastructure for Change: Reaching Young and Anxious Audiences Through Creators
How do we bridge the gap between economic anxiety and belief in government’s potential, turning skepticism into support for policies that improve the lives of children and families?
Grounded in the Economic Security Project’s (ESP) “Young and Anxious” framework, the session will unpack a bold strategic bet: that building narrative infrastructure is essential to advancing economic policy and shifting public will – and affordability sits at the center of that narrative.
Drawing on a year of real-time testing, this session will introduce participants to the “Young and Anxious” audience—nearly 40% of the electorate, under 40, cross-partisan, and deeply concerned about affordability—and what messages, messengers, and channels are actually moving this audience.
We’ll meet two social media content creators from the ESP’s Economic Futures Project, a cohort of content creators reaching a total 6 million + followers, to explore how creators are shaping conversations about economic issues with young audiences.
Through a candid discussion of their work on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, they’ll share what it’s like to build content rooted in lived experience—from parenting and faith to small business ownership and starting a family—and how those experiences intersect with economic policy. The conversation will highlight how creators translate complex issues like childcare, workforce participation, and the cost of building a family into relatable, high-impact content, while also addressing common misconceptions about working with creators.
Attendees will gain insights into:
- The power of authentic storytelling, and the role of creators as trusted messengers
- The current media landscape, and where long-term investments in conservative-aligned creator ecosystems have outpaced other efforts
- Why traditional demographic targeting falls short, and how interest-based, culturally relevant engagement—particularly through creators and peer voices—can more powerfully shape attitudes and beliefs
Speakers [Bios]
- Taylor Jo Isenberg, Executive Director, Economic Security Project
- Ayanna Gay, Fellow, Economic Security Project (Texas)
- Nick Cutsumpas, Fellow, Economic Security Project | Founder, Farmer Nick LLC (Detroit)
Related Resources:
- Economic Security Project
- Webinar Archive: The PN-3 Squeeze: Reaching Young & Anxious Families Where They Are, National Collaborative for Infants and Toddlers, March 2026
Engaging Candidates to Deliver for Young Children | 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM | Edison F
What does it take to effectively engage candidates for public office to ensure they are prioritizing young children and families?
This question is especially important with 36 states facing gubernatorial races this year. There is a critical opportunity to ensure that candidates understand—and prioritize—the needs of young children and families.
In this session, Choose Children - a statewide coalition of child advocates, community-based organizations, First 5 commissions and foundations in California committed to early childhood investment - will share their approach to engaging gubernatorial and local candidates in California through nonpartisan education and advocacy, offering a model that can be adapted in other local, state, and regional contexts.
Participants will gain insight into:
- Strategies that underpin this work, including narrative development, coalition building, and effective collaboration with candidates and funders.
- How coordinated efforts can elevate early childhood issues within campaign environments while remaining firmly within C3 nonpartisan guardrails.
- How philanthropic partners can thoughtfully invest in candidate education efforts and navigate common.
The session will feature dynamic visuals, including campaign materials and a short sizzle reel, to bring the work to life. Attendees will leave with practical insights on candidate engagement efforts that center young children and families.
Speakers [Bios]
- Mayra Alvarez, President, The Children's Partnership
- Christine Thorsteinson, Senior Director, Community Impact and Policy, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Related Resources:
- Choose Children 2026 Governor's Race Kick Off Press Conference (includes polling date, video clips and more)
Defending the Future: How Litigation Protects Children, Families, and Civil Rights | 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM | Banneker
The rights and well-being of children, families, and marginalized communities are being challenged across the country. From shifts in federal funding to state and national actions that threaten basic rights, the stakes are high. Litigation remains one of the most powerful tools to defend these rights and shape systems that support children and families.
In this session, Couch Family Foundation and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation will be joined by ACLU New Hampshire and the national ACLU’s Racial Justice Program to explore how litigation is being used to safeguard the rights of children, families, and communities of color.
Participants will learn from real-world examples, including the successful challenge to New Hampshire’s “Banned Concepts” law, which was permanently enjoined as unconstitutionally vague, creating a pathway for similar challenges in other states. The session will also highlight recent litigation efforts, including the birthright citizenship case and challenges to federal actions limiting diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in public education.
Together, speakers will examine how litigation connects to broader strategies, including advocacy and organizing, to advance civil rights and protect democratic freedoms.
Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of:
- How funder partnerships can support litigation efforts, including lessons from collaboration in New Hampshire
- How litigation complements advocacy, organizing, and other strategies to protect children, families, and communities
- How race, gender, and early childhood intersect in legal challenges, including issues such as birthright citizenship
- How coordinated strategies across local, state, and national levels can advance equity and uphold civil liberties
Speakers [Bios]
- Devon Chaffee, Executive Director, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Hampshire
- Christina D’Allesandro, Initiative Lead Early Childhood and Families, New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
- Sarah Hinger, Deputy Director, Racial Justice and Equity Program, ACLU
- Sarah Robinson, Program Partner, Movement & Coalition Building, Couch Family Foundation