The Early Childhood Funder Collaborative, a project of the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy, developed this report for the purpose of developing recommendations for an infrastructure connecting state child-serving agencies with local communities and communities with each other.
"Co-Creation," written by Patricia Bowie, is a case study about the Connecticut Early Childhood Funder Collaborative, a project of the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy. The case study examines co-creation, an emerging systems change collaboration model which grew out of a funder-and-state partnership. This unique partnership led to the creation by executive order of a new and independent Office of Early Childhood, which was formally approved by the Connecticut State Legislature in 2013. The new case study is significant, as there is much written about funder partnerships and collaboration success stories, but little discussion on different kinds of collaborative ventures and the lessons learned by philanthropy.
First Five Years Fund (FFYF) has developed this resource to serve as a helpful tool for states writing innovative ESSA early learning plans. This shareable, downloadable resource highlights the law’s express early learning provisions, as well as others that could strengthen and expand early childhood initiatives at the state and local level.