In this new blog series on community coalitions, we start by highlighting the recent Indiana Coalition Summit. Stay tuned for future blog posts related to community coalitions!
In 2016, the Transform Consulting Group spearheaded the inaugural Indiana Coalition Summit for Economic Development via Early Learning Coalitions, commonly known as the Indiana Coalition Summit. The event took place at the Horizon Convention Center in Muncie, in collaboration with Muncie BY5, Early Learning Indiana, and the Indiana Early Learning Advisory Committee (ELAC). This was the first statewide event dedicated to bringing together early learning, business, education, civic, and other community leaders to understand the business case for investment in early childhood. The Indiana Coalition Summit also provided guidance on developing and sustaining an early learning coalition in one’s rural, suburban, or urban community. That gathering attracted over 500 attendees across all sectors and affirmed the state’s need for early learning coalitions.
Continuing with that momentum, Transform Consulting Group led the planning and execution of the second annual Indiana Summit for Economic Development via Early Learning Coalitions, held on June 5, 2017, at the Monroe County Convention Center in Bloomington. The Summit attracted nearly 400 attendees, many of whom were attending for the first time. This year, Transform Consulting Group and the planning team, consisting of representatives from Monroe Smart Start, Muncie BY5, ELAC, and Early Learning Indiana, focused on connecting the “soft skills” (or executive functioning skills) that employers desire in today’s workforce with investing in early learning.
Featured Speakers
The morning of the Indiana Coalition Summit focused on building awareness about the need for early learning support, especially among non-early-learning professionals in attendance. Erin Ramsey, with Mind in the Making, and the Bezos Family Foundation started the day with a presentation outlining how investing in early learning shapes the workforce, linking children’s executive functioning skills to the skills desired by employees (i.e., reflecting, analyzing, and evaluating). This was followed by a brief presentation on the current landscape for economic development and early learning from the state’s perspective by Kevin Bain, CEO and Executive Director of the Welborn Baptist Foundation in Evansville and Chairman of ELAC.
In his presentation, Bain highlighted information shared in the most recent ELAC Annual Report, including the online county profiles (now available on the ELAC website) that provide insight into “where” Indiana currently stands in relation to critical early learning measures and “what” Indiana should do to improve.
The lunch presentations began with Jeffery Connor-Naylor from ReadyNation, who debuted a recent Indiana brief outlining how developing social-emotional skills in early childhood positively impacts future workforce success. Notably, employees must be able to create and sustain relationships. Dr. Tim Bartik gave the keynote presentation from the W.E. Upjohn Institute. He made the economic case for investing in early learning. He shared data indicating that, per dollar invested, early childhood programs increase the present value of state per capita earnings by $5.00 to $9.00. Dr. Bartik also shared that the costs of investing in early learning are modest, citing the example of universal full-day pre-K for 4-year-olds, which costs approximately 4% of what we spend on K-12 education.
Community Coalition Workshop Sessions
The afternoon breakout sessions focused on helping attendees develop community early learning coalitions. These sessions were framed around the forthcoming Community Coalition Building Toolkit developed by the ELAC Provider Participation and Advancement workgroup.
Amanda Lopez, President of Transform Consulting Group, led the “Creating a Collective Vision/Plan” session, utilizing her experience in developing strategic plans and working with community coalitions. In her presentation, Lopez reviewed the four steps of strategic planning: 1) Collaborate, 2) Assess, 3) Facilitate Consensus, and 4) Create the Plan.
The Indiana Summit for Economic Development through Early Learning Coalitions is a shining example of an event that brings together stakeholders from diverse sectors for a common goal: thriving communities through investment in early learning. It laid the groundwork for distinct, even unusual partners to work together, while also giving attendees the chance to network and receive training in developing their community coalition.
If your organization is interested in connecting with or starting a community coalition focused on early learning, check out the resources available on the Indiana Coalition Summit Resource Page, or contact us at Transform Consulting Group to get connected!