As Congress considers legislation that could harm children and families and communities, we want to recognize and uplift the vital work of ECFC members and grantee partners in this moment.
The massive budget reconciliation bill has grave implications for health care, food security, immigrant families, economic justice, child development, education, and civil rights, including disability rights. While delivering major benefits to wealthier Americans, the bill would make severe cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, early childhood services, and vital family supports.
While ECFC, foundations, and our nonprofit partners cannot replace public investment in family well-being, we can deepen our commitments, align our efforts, and show up with greater urgency and intention. Even if there is a major setback this week, we know that the country has often fallen short of its ideals for children and families, especially those living in poverty or from communities of color.
Learning from History to Guide Our Actions
Over the past seven years, ECFC and our members have spent time studying U.S. history, with a particular focus on Indigenous history and Black history, to improve our work. This journey has taken us to Hawaii, New Mexico, and soon, to Alabama. We often learn hidden stories about how the U.S. has betrayed its principles, but just as often, we learn the heroic stories of people who persevered and led the way toward a more just future. Our team continues to reflect on how we honor their legacy by supporting those who are carrying the work forward today.
Since fall 2024, we have convened and worked with many foundations that stepped up in new ways: some making their first advocacy grants, others broadening their missions to support areas like health care and nutrition, knowing that these are inseparable from children’s well-being and school readiness. National foundations have supported cross-sector advocacy efforts and focused on children and families most at risk. State and local foundations are joining public agencies and private partners to respond to the implications of these sweeping policy changes in their communities.
Grantee Partners Are Leading the Way
At the heart of this work are community leaders: advocates, organizers, parents, educators, caregivers, and health care providers working tirelessly to protect children and families. They are the grantee partners leading efforts that reflect a broad, inclusive vision of early childhood. Some advocate in real-time, working to preserve child care funding and safety net supports in their state and local budgets; others stand on the steps of the Capitol to oppose harmful federal cuts; while others join forces as part of coalitions, fighting to protect Head Start and preserve health care access for parents and infants. They are doing everything from driving people to prenatal appointments, ensuring nurseries have diapers, and lifting their voices to safeguard Medicaid, which covers nearly half of all births in the United States. They run mutual aid hubs and doula collectives while some lend an ear as a caring neighbor or serve as community organizers.
Philanthropy’s work is to support and uplift the work of grantee partners nationwide. Their leadership helps ensure transparency and accountability as these decisions unfold. They are on the front lines, building up communities, keeping families together, amplifying the voices of those too often unheard in our democracy, and working to mitigate the harms to families and communities caused by lawmakers’ decisions. We pledge to do everything we can to support them.
This week, we return to Langston Hughes:
O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
In partnership,
Shannon L. Rudisill Keami Harris
Executive Director Chief of Equity and Strategy
Early Childhood Funders Collaborative Early Childhood Funders Collaborative