The Nebraska Early Childhood Campaign is a statewide collaborative effort designed to build support for quality early childhood care and education in Nebraska. This work is being led by the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska in collaboration with many other organizations and consultants. Building upon the strengths, resources, materials, and committed personnel in Nebraska today, the campaign will help strengthen public understanding and appreciation of quality early care and education for young children across the state. The Buffett Institute has teamed with Neimand Collaborative, a nationally recognized social impact firm with extensive experience in early care and education, to implement the campaign in collaboration with other early childhood and communications partners.
The campaign intends to reach Nebraskans across the state with a special emphasis on: parents and families, the early childhood workforce, and opinion and community leaders.
Campaign Goals and Objectives
The goal of the Nebraska Early Childhood Campaign is to build support for quality early childhood care and education in Nebraska. The campaign will focus on the following objectives:
- Promote an aligned understanding of quality in early childhood care and education;
- Increase understanding and appreciation of the role of the early childhood workforce in providing quality care and education in Nebraska;
- Expand recognition of the economic importance of quality early care and education and the early childhood workforce
- Build public will for access to quality early childhood care and education;
- Increase communications capacity among campaign partners and collaborators to sustain and continue community engagement efforts made in public campaigns.
To achieve this goal and these objectives, the campaign will:
- Promote a shared understanding between families and the field of the definition of quality early childhood care and education;
- Empower parents and families to ask for access to quality;
- Position the early childhood workforce as a critical provider of quality care other than the family;
- Emphasize that access to quality for all children requires a well-trained and well-compensated workforce;
- Provide parents and others with a website that is a clearinghouse for easy-to-find resources, information, and materials that present a cohesive picture of quality care to parents and the public;
- Create and disseminate supplementary materials about quality care and the early years of life to Nebraska communities and partners;
- Use existing networks, relationships, and aligned activities of partners to reach early childhood system leaders and policymakers.
Contacts:
Principal Investigator--Renee Wessels
Campaign Manager: Kara Ficke
