Session handouts, bios and related reading by day and session.
View the Full May 4-6 Meeting Agenda
Wednesday, May 4th
Opening Session - Our Stories: Where We've Been, Where We're Going
In this opening session, we connected with long-time and new colleagues, reflected on where we’ve been (as individuals, as grantmakers, and as a collaborative) and how we are growing and changing.
- Welcome Remarks: Rashanda Perryman-Stiff, Vanguard & ECFC Steering Committee Chair
SPACEs in Action (SIA), DC-based Raising Child Care Fund grantee, guided us through an engaging program on storytelling and lived experience. Together, we explored how active listening and storytelling can be used to personally connect to early childhood issues, and how SIA uses these tools to understand and amplify community needs and voice.
- SIA Slide Deck
- Visit our Grantee Speaker Guide to learn more SIA
- SIA video documents the experience at the May meeting.

ECFC 30th birthday Reception (6pm-8pm)
2022 marks our thirtieth year as a collaborative of funders deeply committed to aligning ideas and resources on behalf of young children and their families! Join us for cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, networking, and reminiscing as we celebrate 30 years!
- Welcome Remarks: Eric Buchanan, Buffett Early Childhood Fund & ECFC Steering Committee
Thursday, May 5, 2022 - Morning Sessions
Devil in the Details: Equitable Policy Implementation
- Introduction & Facilitation: Marquita Davis, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Part 1: Implementation Matters - State Implementation Examples
- Marica Cox Mitchell, Bainum Family Foundation (DC)
- Barbara Reisman, Maher Charitable Foundation (NJ)
- Whitney Hosty, Stanley H. Durwood Foundation / Greater Kansas City Community Foundation (MO). Related handouts: Kansas City Pre-K Cooperative
- Elizabeth Krause, Perigee Fund (WA)
- Katherine Beckmann, The David and Lucille Packard Foundation (CA)
Part 2: Public/Private Partnerships in Early Childhood – Opportunities and Intersections
- Katie Hamm, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development, Office of Early Childhood, Administration for Children and Families, HHS
- Katherine Neas, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, Department of Education
- Miranda Lynch-Smith, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Services Policy in Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, HHS
- Dr. Michael Warren, Associate Administrator, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS
Thursday, May 5, 2022 - Afternoon Sessions
Voices & Power Part 1: Shifting Power & Building Trust
Introduction & Facilitation: Kellie Brown, William Penn Foundation & ECFC Racial Equity Workgroup Co-Chair
Grantmaker / Grantee Partners [Visit our Grantee Speaker Guide]
- Raising Child Care Fund & SPACEs in Action
- William Penn Foundation, Vanguard & First Up
- The Burke Foundation & Children’s Home Society of New Jersey
- William Casper Graustein Memorial Fund & Hope Development Center
- Irving Harris Foundation & Latino Policy Forum
- Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of NC & Black Child Development Institute - Charlotte Affiliate
- The Heinz Endowments & Early Excellent Project
- Heising-Simons Foundation & National Women’s Law Center
- Trust for Learning & Children’s Equity Project at the University of Arizona
Voices and Power Part 2: Equitable Approaches to Program & Portfolio Design
Introduction: Ellen Roche, Trust for Learning & ECFC Racial Equity Workgroup Co-Chair
Equitable Approaches Pecha Kucha & Gallery Walk Examples:
- Brindle Foundation & LANL Foundation –shifting power to Indigenous communities
- Imaginable Futures – engaging student parents to build out a 2-Gen portfolio
- Einhorn Collaborative –parent/family engagement, ERH collective impact. Related handouts: Moving Beyond the Family Engagement Checkbox: An innovative partnership to promote authentic family engagement in systems change, Center for the Study of Social Policy; Gallery Walk Materials
- Irving Harris Foundation – shifting power to grant partners/communities via grassroots organizing strategies, related reading: How Chicago Mothers and Grantmakers are Changing Policy Through Collective Action; and COFI - Parental Advocacy Group.

Friday, May 5, 2022
Advancing our Practice: What Comes Next?
- Building on the work we have done to advance equity, we will think about how to move forward as individuals, as funders, and as a collaborative. What more can we be doing to promote equity in our field and work? ECFC’s past Steering Committee chair, Wendy Lewis Jackson, Managing Director for Detroit, at The Kresge Foundation, will be joined by special guest, Tonya Allen, President of the McKnight Foundation, to help us frame our thinking around equitable engagement and how philanthropy can shift power to communities.
Opportunities, Threats and Superpowers
- Closing interactive exploration of how we (as funders and as a collaborative) can play a more active role in influencing equitable policy development and advancing racial equity in all aspects of our work.
- Introduction by: Sara Vecchiotti, Foundation for Child Development, ECFC Steering Committee Treasurer, and Chair of ECFC’s Strategic Planning Committee