National League of Cities (NLC) selected Cleveland as one of 13 cities participating in an initiative to increase the likelihood that all children will achieve educational success by the end of third grade by aligning local services and support systems. In addition to Cleveland, Denver; Dubuque, Iowa; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Las Vegas; Louisville, Kentucky; Madison, Wisconsin; Nashville, Tennessee; New Haven, Connecticut; Orlando, Florida; Philadelphia; Phoenix; and Tempe, Arizona have been chosen to participate in this project, known as the Promoting an Alignment Framework to Build an Early Learning Nation initiative.  PRE4CLE and the Cuyahoga County Office of Early Childhood will serve as the lead agencies for this project.

Funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, this initiative is designed to lay the groundwork for a broader campaign that will engage cities across the nation in early learning efforts and leverages current investments from other national funders – including the Bezos Family Foundation and the Foundation for Child Development – that support NLC’s larger Early Childhood Success portfolio.

“City leaders can improve educational outcomes for our youngest generation by helping to forge strong community connections that link families to a broad range of supports and opportunities,” said National League of Cities (NLC) CEO and Executive Director Clarence E. Anthony. “Research shows that a more seamless strategy — one that addresses the full range of academic, behavioral, health and family needs — can serve young children more effectively.”

Based on NLC’s alignment framework which provides a basis for bringing multi-sector groups together to address community issues, align efforts and policies to achieve shared goals, and build an Early Learning Nation, Cleveland will participate in a peer learning network and receive customized technical assistance, access to best practices and national experts.

For more information on NLC’s Early Childhood Success initiatives, click here.