COFI and POWER-PAC IL Parent Leaders from Aurora, Chicago, East St. Louis, and Elgin at Early Childhood Advocacy Day 2025.
Nearly 30 POWER-PAC IL Parent Leaders and children traveled to Springfield on March 4th to join advocates and fight for early childhood education programs, including early intervention for babies 0-3, child care, home visiting, and Preschool for All!
COFI joined Child Care for All!, Illinois Action for Children, Raising Illinois, SEIU, and Start Early to co-host Early Childhood Advocacy Day (ECAD), an annual lobbying day to support Illinois’ youngest residents.
Increasing Funding for Early Intervention by $60M
In Governor JB Pritzker’s February State of the State address, he proposed a $10M increase to Early Intervention (EI) and an $85M increase to Child Care funding. However, the EI funding is far short of the $60M increase that POWER-PAC parents and advocates are fighting for and even shorter of the $200M increase needed to ensure our state’s youngest learners (ages 0-3) have the support they need to thrive and succeed later in life.
A report commissioned by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) has shown that the EI program is underfunded by nearly $200 million, and reimbursement rates must increase by 95% to fully cover providers’ costs and time. Parent Leaders are joining advocates statewide in demanding a $60M increase, which is still not enough but a reasonable start to help reduce the service delays that many families are experiencing.
“We know investing in our early learners is investing in our future Illinois,” Parent Leader Rosalia Salgado (Chicago – Northwest) said as she emceed the ECAD rally. “We need leaders to take bold action.”
Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton also joined advocates at the rally to highlight her and Governor Pritzker’s commitment to Illinois’ youngest residents and what the administration has invested in already, including the Smart Start initiative, which COFI and POWER-PAC IL helped pass in 2023.
“Parents are powerful”
Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton (left) and COFI and POWER-PAC IL Parent Leader Chanelle (right)
Parent Leader Chanelle Brown (Evanston) joined Rosalia in speaking at the rally. She drew on her experience as a POWER-PAC IL Executive Board Member, COFI Board Member, Raising Illinois Family Leader, and Evanston Early Childhood Council member.
Chanelle spoke about how her advocacy journey started when she had her daughter nearly 13 years ago. She heard about COFI and how it supported educating and empowering working parents. Then, she furthered her early learning advocacy when she had her son almost a year ago and got involved with Raising Illinois.
“I’m advocating for child care providers like the ones who care for my son. We have to make sure we provide fair wages,” she said.
She also spoke about how the EI program is in crisis and called on parents to advocate for a $60M increase. “Parents are powerful,” she said.
To learn more about how COFI and POWER-PAC IL are fighting for early childhood programs, visit our Early Learning Campaign webpage.
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