NEBRASKA EARLY CHILDHOOD STRATEGIC PLAN

The Nebraska Early Childhood Strategic Plan is a dynamic plan by and for Nebraskans that seeks to ensure that all children have access to quality early childhood services. 

The plan was developed through a collaborative statewide process that builds on Nebraska’s strengths.  It is based on findings from a comprehensive statewide needs assessment conducted in 2019 and informed by input from families, early childhood providers, and other stakeholders representing communities across Nebraska and all sectors of the state’s early childhood mixed-delivery system.

The plan describes a shared vision and goals for improving the early childhood experiences of the more than 235,000 children, birth through age 8, who live in Nebraska today, with special emphasis on addressing significant disparities that exist across the state. 

Read the Plan Summary

Strategic Plan Vision and Goals

The overarching vision of the Nebraska Early Childhood Strategic Plan is to provide all Nebraska children and their families with access to quality early childhood care and education and other essential services that support children’s healthy development from birth through age 8. 

The plan defines four interrelated goals, each with corresponding objectives. These goals are intended to create a more integrated early childhood system—and work on any one of the goals will impact and inform the other goals.

• Goal 1: Access—Each child and their family can access the quality early childhood care, education, and essential services they need to support each child’s healthy development.
• Goal 2: Quality—All early care and education settings provide quality experiences for children.
• Goal 3: Collaboration—Communities coordinate a locally designed mixed-delivery system that provides continuous care and meets the needs of families.
• Goal 4: Alignment—Statewide systems align to support communities in creating an integrated and comprehensive mixed-delivery system for all children.

Strategic Plan Webinar Video

Get Involved

In 2021–2022, Nebraskans will be engaged in an effort to further develop the plan, with a focus on identifying strategies and action plans for accomplishing its goals. Stakeholders will be invited to participate in conversations to ensure the plan addresses the priorities and needs of Nebraskans in diverse and unique communities across the state.

These conversations will include questions about what success looks like and how changes can be measured, helping to ensure that Nebraska has the capacity to evaluate progress and make data-informed decisions about how to improve early childhood services. This integrated and collaborative approach to needs assessment, strategic planning, and performance evaluation will help ensure that Nebraska creates sustainable change at the community and state levels.

Resources

Start here. The Executive Summary provides a high-level summary of key definitions, key needs assessment findings, goals, and objectives; it is available in English and Spanish.

Want to learn more? The Nebraska Early Childhood Strategic Plan provides more detailed information on the strategic planning process and needs assessment findings, including key findings for each strategic goal and objective. It also provides initial implementation strategies.

Have a question? The FAQs page answers many commonly asked questions about the plan.

Want to share the plan with others?

Understanding and Using Strategic Plan Documents

Organizational Lead: Buffett Early Childhood Institute

Contact: Susan Sarver                                                                                                                                                                        Principal Investigator, Nebraska Early Childhood Strategic Plan                                                                                              Director of Workforce Planning and Development, Buffett Early Childhood Institute

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