The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development recently received generous support from the Bezos Family Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to expand the center's capacity to provide guidance to states on effective early childhood policy, to understand the impact of states' governance of early childhood policies and programs on support for early childhood investments, and to host policy academies. The center also released a research brief recapping policies enacted during 2024 state legislative sessions that align with evidence from the Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap.
With support from the Bezos Family Foundation, the center will expand its internal capacity to accelerate and target states' adoption of evidence-based policies in the annual Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap to help more young children thrive. The roadmap is a resource for states to understand evidence-based policies and to track their progress toward policy adoption and implementation. The Bezos Family Foundation grant will also support the center's continued production and dissemination of the roadmap and two annual policy academies.
The Hilton Foundation is funding the center's early childhood governance study. The study will help to identify early childhood governance structures in each state, determine patterns of governance, and understand if certain structures, such as separate, cabinet-level agencies, are more effective or efficient at supporting early childhood investments in the state. The study aims to provide guidance on the governance structures that best align with states' goals and are most effective at serving children and families. As states consider the best way to serve families with young children, findings from this study will inform decisions on whether to consolidate or disperse the administration and governance of early childhood programs and services.
In July, the Hilton Foundation's support allowed the center to host the Community-Based Doula Policy Learning Symposium to enhance states' policy expertise and implementation of doula policies. Staff in attendance from state legislatures, agencies, and advocacy groups learned about various doula models and the potential impacts of doula policies on child and family outcomes. They also explored various policy and implementation levers within a broader discussion of maternal health policies and impacts on healthy and equitable birth outcomes.
While Medicaid reimbursements for doula support vary across states, nearly every state that spoke with the center's experts inquired about the potential impact, funding mechanisms, workforce, and certification infrastructure. The center addressed these questions at the symposium, attended by twenty-nine staff members from 21 states and 13 speakers from 10 states.
By providing states with evidence on effective policies and guidance throughout policy design and implementation processes, the center believes that states will be better positioned to implement policies that improve outcomes for children and families. In fact, as discussed in the center's research brief on the 2024 legislative session, many states passed policies that align with four key components of the prenatal-to-3 system of care: child care, state tax credits, paid family and medical leave, and community-based doulas. Across these measures, 24 policies were enacted this year, suggesting that policymakers have a growing interest in creating the conditions for children and families to thrive and, thus, a greater need for the work of the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center.
The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center
The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center aims to accelerate states' equitable implementation of evidence-based policies that help all children thrive from the start. Based at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development and led by Cynthia Osborne, professor of early childhood education and policy, the center's team of researchers and nonpartisan policy experts works with policymakers, practitioners, and advocates to navigate the evidence on solutions for effective child development in the earliest years. Learn more at www.pn3policy.org.
The Bezos Family Foundation
The Bezos Family Foundation is an independent, nonprofit private Foundation founded by Mike and Jackie Bezos, who, along with their family, serve as the Foundation's directors. Since 2001, the Foundation has partnered with remarkable organizations and individuals to transform how we prepare young people from prenatal through young adulthood to pursue their own path for success and meaningfully contribute to society. In addition to grantmaking, the Foundation runs two in-house programs: Bezos Scholars Program and Vroom.
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
International hotelier Conrad N. Hilton established the grantmaking foundation that bears his name in 1944 to help people living in poverty and experiencing disadvantage worldwide. Today, the work continues, concentrating on efforts to ensure healthy early childhood development and sustainable livelihoods for youth and refugee populations, support young people transitioning out of foster care, improve access to housing and support services for people experiencing homelessness, identify solutions to safe water access, and lift the work of Catholic sisters. Additionally, following selection by an independent, international jury, the Foundation annually awards the $2.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to an organization doing extraordinary work to reduce human suffering. The Foundation is one of the world's largest, with approximately $7 billion in assets. It has awarded grants to date totaling more than $3.2 billion worldwide, and $290 million in 2023. Please visit www.hiltonfoundation.org
