Shared Prosperity

The National League of Cities (NLC) selected Philadelphia as one of 13 cities participating in an initiative to increase the likelihood that all children will achieve educational success by the end of third grade by aligning local services and support systems. In addition to Philadelphia, Cleveland; Denver; Dubuque, Iowa; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Las Vegas; Louisville, Kentucky; Madison, Wisconsin; Nashville, Tennessee; New Haven, Connecticut; Orlando, Florida; Phoenix; and Tempe, Arizona have been chosen to participate in this project, known as the Promoting an Alignment Framework to Build an Early Learning Nation initiative.

Over the next five years PHL Pre-K will provide quality pre-k to 6,500 three and four year-olds, while A Running Start works to increase access to high-quality early learning for children from birth to five, beginning with those who are at greatest risk of poor academic and life outcomes. In addition to access, its goals are to expand the supply of early learning opportunities, strengthen the early childhood workforce, align the city’s early childhood and K-3 systems, and ensure that Philadelphia has an infrastructure to support this work.

Funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, this initiative is designed to lay the groundwork for a broader campaign that will engage cities across the nation in early learning efforts and leverages current investments from other national funders – including the Bezos Family Foundation and the Foundation for Child Development – that support NLC’s larger Early Childhood Success portfolio. Based on NLC’s alignment framework Philadelphia will participate in a peer learning network and receive customized technical assistance, access to best practices and national experts.

For information about NLC’s Early Childhood Success initiatives, click here.