Listening to Families: What Capita’s Quarterly Insights Can Teach Us About Family-Centered Policy

What can we learn when we consistently ask families what is happening in their lives—not simply whether a particular program is working?

Join ECFC for a discussion with Capita, a think tank focused on building a future where families and communities can flourish, about Quarterly Insights from America’s Families, their standing national survey conducted in partnership with YouGov, which serves as an early-warning system measuring household stability, predictability, and quality of life for families.

Quarterly Insights provides an ongoing, national view of family well-being by listening directly to families and tracking their experiences over time. The survey also oversamples parents in four states: North Carolina, New Jersey, Michigan, and Colorado. In this session, we’ll explore topline national and North Carolina-specific findings from the third wave of Quarterly Insights data (available in October), including what has changed, what remains consistent, and what families themselves identify as shaping their ability to thrive, including: erosion of quality time with their kids, unpredictability of work schedules impacting their ability to plan for child care and other family needs, and the weight of parents piecing together services and systems without clear support or guidance.

As a precursor to ECFC’s fall member meeting in Raleigh, NC, we’ll also take a deeper dive into what the Quarterly Insights data can tell us in a state that has historically invested significantly in early childhood and family-serving systems amidst complex geographic, cultural, and political contexts.

Quarterly Insights offers a powerful opportunity to rethink that distinction and to build a policy framework centered on the conditions that make family life more stable, predictable, and workable. When we take the time to listen to families’ needs and aspirations and ground our work in what families say they need, the solutions that emerge may not look like traditional early childhood programs at all.

The discussion will challenge early childhood funders to consider the need for advocacy rooted in the real-life experiences of parents and young children, and to move beyond a focus on distinct programs and discrete interventions when families describe needs that cut across systems.

Date/Time:

Thursday, October 8, 2026
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET | 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM CT | 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM MT | 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM PT | 8:00 AM – 9:00 AM HT

Registration:

This event is open to grantmakers, funder collaboratives, philanthropy infrastructure organizations, and philanthropy advisors representing specific philanthropies.

Please note unauthorized recording, streaming, AI transcribing, and copying are prohibited.