Our Approach

We want to create a world where early care and education is treated as a public good.

We envision a system where all families can access high-quality early care and education programs, educators are rewarded and recognized for their practice, and children grow and develop in nurturing learning environments -- and where public funding facilitates, rather than hinders, those goals.

In short, let’s create an early care and education system that works for everyone.

What we do

 

Pillars partners with early childhood organizations, advocacy groups, non-profits, and government agencies, providing strategic planning, research, and analysis support.

We bring deep experience in early care and education across research, policy, and practice to help our partners both see persistent challenges with a fresh perspective and act to address inequities. Working alongside policymakers and practitioners, we support our partners from idea to implementation, applying our expertise to the local context — all in service of creating an early care and education system that works.

How we work

 

Pillars combines early care and education expertise, research and analysis, and management consulting techniques to help partners create and implement the policies and practices that serve children, families, educators, and providers.

Our services include:

  • We conduct research and analysis so partners make informed, clear decisions that lead to action.

    • Assess and interpret the local early childhood landscape

    • Identify key local challenges and factors

    • Identify relevant entities and actors in the space

    • Conduct stakeholder outreach through focus groups, surveys, one-on-one interviews, and community conversations

    • Analyze data on the local early childhood sector on a range of issues, including workforce, quality, access, finance, and more

    • Provide key policy and practice recommendations and solutions

  • We build sustainable, evidence-based strategies so partners align their approach, decisions, and resources to their goals.

    • Engage communities and key stakeholders to develop organization-wide and community-wide strategic plans

    • Align strategies and build buy-in among committees, working groups, and other stakeholders

    • Support partners and communities on implementing strategic plans

  • We support organizations with successful implementation of strategies, projects, and initiatives so partners can meet their goals.

    • Create implementation plans aligned to priorities and goals

    • Develop systems and processes so partners stay aligned to their goals

    • Provide toolkits and guides to facilitate conversation and growth

    • Support and advise on implementation

Where we thrive

 

At Pillars, our team has spent more than a decade building expertise in key issue areas, giving us the knowledge and experience to support our partners in their most pressing needs.

  • Early childhood workforce: Compensation and benefits, credential requirements, career pathways, alternative and traditional preparation

  • Funding: Child care subsidies, Head Start and Early Head Start, federal funding, state and local preschool programs

  • Instructional models: Curriculum, assessments, professional development, coaching

  • Quality support: Data infrastructure and systems, continuous improvement processes, monitoring and evaluation

  • Comprehensive services: Dual-generation support, cross-agency and cross-partner collaboration, family supports and engagement