The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), in partnership with the Nebraska Children and Families Fund (NCFF), committed to build upon the previous work done to operationalize a shared vision and long-term goals—represented most clearly in the Nebraska Early Childhood Strategic Plan (updated in 2023) and Nebraska’s Preschool Development Grant: Needs Assessment Report (2019). This Action Agenda represents the next iteration of the work—digging deeper to establish actionable priorities capable of moving the needle for children ages 0-5 across Nebraska.
The Action Agenda's priorities are:
- Access: More equitably address service gaps for Nebraska’s working families based on parent needs and preferences, while simultaneously meeting the developmental needs of children 0-5 years old by expanding funding sources that pay providers for the full cost of quality care, including the expansion of child care subsidy, other public funds, and public/private endowments.
- Workforce: Address the early childhood workforce crisis in early childhood by effective, innovative, and sustainable solutions that align to the Nebraska Early Childhood Strategic Plan’s definition of quality and Nebraska Early Learning Standards.
- Data: Address the early childhood workforce crisis in early childhood by effective, innovative, and sustainable solutions that align to the Nebraska Early Childhood Strategic Plan’s definition of quality and Nebraska Early Learning Standards.
- Coordinated Governance: Strengthen government coordination to operationalize a fully funded and aligned system to ensure access to full-day, year-round, high-quality early care and education for children regardless of the setting and experiences parents choose.
- Parent Voice and Community Collaboration: Elevate parent, provider, and community voice through well-resourced community collaboratives to inform both local and system-wide decision making by examining both quantitative and qualitative data.
