Championing Children and Changing Lives, Now and Into the Future

“What about the children?” 

IAFC founder Sylvia Cotton was determined to answer this question 55 years ago, when she realized that Illinois was in a child care crisis. As increasing numbers of women joined the workforce, limited child care availability, conflicting licensing requirements for providers, and scant government funding put children at risk for widespread abuse and neglect. 

Through the generous support of philanthropic foundations and individuals, community advocates, and government partners, IAFC has evolved from a grassroots advocacy organization to a nonprofit leader with a range of 26 vital programs, laser-focused on ensuring children receive the support they need to thrive.  

We’re thankful for everyone who continues to invest in our mission—building strong families and powerful communities where children matter most—and our distinct approach to improving community systems to create a strong foundation for early learning. 

As we celebrate 55 years of championing children and changing lives, our vision for the future is expansive. We envision a world in which every child receives an abundance of support from the start—a world in which all children, especially those furthest from opportunities and resources, have access to the high-quality learning opportunities they need to succeed in life.  

Here are a few of the realities that we continue to work toward. 

Increased Access to Affordable, Outstanding Child Care

IAFC operates as the largest Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) network in Illinois and has served as Cook County’s CCR&R since 1990. This means we refer individuals seeking child care to providers and guide them to the early childhood services they need. We also facilitate Illinois’ Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), which connects eligible families to affordable early childhood programs in their communities. 

To provide families with more choices, in 2016, IAFC opened four of its own Early Learning Centers in south suburban communities around Chicago that were formerly considered child care deserts. Our Early Learning programming supports pregnant women and families with children up to age five with everything from center-based services to home visiting. 

Thanks to private support, we continue to fill gaps in services that cannot be addressed by government funding alone. This includes addressing basic and emergency needs for families, enriching children’s learning and social-emotional development, and building parent engagement. We facilitate parent trainings to reinforce leadership and social-emotional skills; peer-support groups; networking and socialization opportunities; and more.  

Solutions to Food Insecurity 

Through our Healthy Food program, IAFC provides more than 3 million healthy meals and snacks for more than 6,000 children across our programs, from center-based care to license-exempt programs and family, friend, and neighbor care. But we remain focused on tackling the even greater issue of food insecurity in the homes and communities that need it most.  

According to current data from Feeding America, 18% of children in Cook County (more than 200,000 children) are facing food insecurity. Additionally, 65% are ineligible for federal nutrition programs. 

Helping families achieve stability means supporting the nutritional needs of children during the hours they do not spend in child care programs. We’re working to provide supplemental food for families so children can access healthy foods at school and at home, and to train parents on how to provide more nutritious meals and snacks even on restricted budgets. We’re also working to enhance training and recruitment for providers, and to fund additional research in child health and nutrition. 

Enhanced Training and Professional Development Opportunities 

IAFC facilitates training and professional development for child care providers and educators. In addition to staffing our own learning centers, we partner with 16 early learning sites to  provide quality improvement and credentialing for providers and teachers. 

As the result of generous gifts, IAFC also created the Maria Whelan Leadership Institute (MWLI) Emerging Leaders Fellowship in 2022. This fellowship program strengthens the early childhood workforce by preparing the next generation of providers and teachers to be powerful leaders and advocates. In spring 2024, we welcomed our third cohort of fellows. 

Each cohort spends nine months in expert-led, skill-building workshops, panels, and projects aimed at career advancement and developing their advocacy and leadership abilities. They create individualized leadership development plans, spend time in Springfield, and collaborate on a group advocacy project.  

One-third of the inaugural cohort of fellows reported receiving promotions and obtaining new, higher-level positions, which they attributed directly to their participation in the program. In fact, one cohort graduate was named teacher of the year in 2024—a tremendous achievement that highlights the caliber of professionals in the fellowship. 

Robust Research and Advocacy to Improve the Early Childhood System 

Our privately funded research explores key issues that frame IAFC’s policy and advocacy agenda and often inform program direction.  

In fact, IAFC was conceived through research, when in 1968, Sylvia Cotton was commissioned to conduct a study of child care availability in Chicago to inform policy decisions for local agencies. The alarming lack of safe, nurturing places to care for children while both parents worked led her to found the Day Care Crisis Council of Metropolitan Chicago (DCCC), which later became IAFC. In 2014—our 45th anniversary year—we established the Sylvia Cotton Center for Research and Policy Innovation to cement her legacy and deepen philanthropic support for our research.  

We invite everyone to explore our latest research reports and policy recommendations, spanning a host of issues. Recently, we conducted a study of child care accessibility among parents and providers of children with disabilities. We also partnered with the Stanford Center on Early Childhood’s RAPID survey team on a multipart study of the child care experiences of Cook County parents.  

We couple research with advocacy to ensure that policies affecting children, families, and the early childhood field reflect best practices and the lived experiences of caregivers, providers, and educators. Within the last year, IAFC’s public policy and advocacy team mobilized more than 6,000 parents, early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals, and community members, who routinely respond to advocacy alerts, testify, and act on critical issues. We also convene We, The Village, a diverse coalition of hundreds of advocates—to urge legislators to act on behalf Illinois’ youngest residents. 

Recent achievements include: 

• Advocating successfully for the passage of the law creating Illinois first Department of Early Childhood (IDEC) in 2024
• Securing $5 million in new funding to support the inclusion of preschoolers with disabilities and developmental delays in early childhood programs. 
• Increasing the number of scholarships for early childhood educators pursuing advanced degrees and credentials through the Early Childhood Access Consortium for Equity (ECACE)—from 400 scholarships in 2021 to 4,000 in 2023. 
• Increasing Illinois’ investment in child care services by $170 million 

Greater Community Impact 

IAFC is a respected systems change leader—identifying gaps in our educational, economic, and government systems; testing ideas; and providing targeted supports for those who need them most. We do this by listening to parents and families, engaging them in developing solutions, and working collaboratively with partner organizations across the community. 

In 2018, IAFC was chosen to lead the Community Systems Statewide Supports (CS3) program, a multiyear partnership with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) focused on ensuring children enter kindergarten healthy, safe, and ready to learn. Working at the grassroots level, the CS3 team supports early childhood community collaborations,  develops training materials, and provides technical assistance.  

Two years later, several major early childhood funders selected IAFC to launch and lead the Community Parenting Support Saturation Project (CPSS) in Aurora, Rockford, and North Lawndale. After four years of providing targeted supports for families of young children in these communities through CPSS, community members increased their capacity to support their children’s learning, engaged even more parents, and improved their children’s education and life outcomes.  

Individual initiatives are becoming self-sustaining through philanthropy. Our programs in North Lawndale, including the North Lawndale Early Learning Collaboration, Parent University Chicago-West, North Lawndale Reads, and North Lawndale Community Connections, engage parents themselves in identifying challenges and solutions—equipping them with the tools they need to advocate for and influence their child’s learning and success.    

More recently, we have built new community partnerships which have inspired key programs, such as Strengthening Connections—addressing the well-being of children whose parents are experiencing incarceration. Working with the Cook County Sherriff’s Office, we provide case management, emergency supplies, and quarterly engagement activities that support children and caregivers when a parent is in jail or incarcerated.  

Still, IAFC’s work continues to evolve to meet the moment. We will ensure that the new Illinois Department of Early Childhood fulfills its commitment to streamline services, foster equity, and close loopholes so that all children and families can access the excellent early childhood programs and resources they deserve. And we will attend to future challenges as they arise, supporting our early childhood workforce, and advocating for effective policies. 

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