ABOUT GATEWAY ALLIANCE

We speak with hope and act with courage.

We are parents and providers. Mothers, fathers, and guardians. Teachers, educators, and directors.

OUR VISION

We envision a resilient, thriving early childcare system in the St. Louis region in which kids ages 0 to 5 can learn and grow in a joyful, high-quality early care and education environment, regardless of their race, family income level, or zip code.

“I work to make certain that your voice, and my voice, is not just represented, but is leading the work to make the early childhood system more racially equitable and a valued regional priority.”

—MacKenzie Grayson, Interim Executive Director

Where We Come From

OUR HISTORY

Our story is a shared story. We would not be here today without the efforts of others before us to understand, identify, and give voice to the social, emotional, and physical tolls of inequity in the early childhood care system.

We’re part of a greater movement for ECE equity that’s been going on in St. Louis since 2014. Here are some of the projects and people that have led us here:

  • For the Sake of All report identifies a lack of quality early childhood care and education as a leading indicator of health disparities between white and Black residents of St. Louis.

  • The Ferguson Commission prioritizes early childhood education policy change as a call to action in their report, Forward Through Ferguson.

  • An advisory committee of 22 organizational leaders from across the region partner with IFF to study the access and affordability gaps in our early childhood care and education landscape in their community-led study The First Step to Equity.

  • After a year-long process, WEPOWER and the Tomorrow Builder Fellows release The Playbook: Reimagined and Redesigned Early Childhood Education, providing an action plan for the community in five key areas of need: Workforce, Quality, Funding and Access, Family Well-Being, and Governance and Coordination.

    WEPOWER and the Tomorrow Builder Fellows facilitate training for residents of St. Louis City and County to learn community organizing in support of the 2020 priorities of The Playbook.

    The First Step to Equity Transitional Collaborative prioritizes two key recommendations of The Playbook — establishing a regional coordinating entity for early childhood education, and advocating for local public funding for children ages 0 to 5.

  • In 2021, the Gateway Early Childhood Alliance Steering Committee, a diverse group of qualified candidates, is formed after a year-long selection process. Katie Rahn Ed.D. is selected as the first Executive Director of the Alliance, tasked with guiding the organization to become a regional coordinating entity that will connect the disparate dots of a complex early childhood system. At the core of all work being done is the mission and vision of creating and sustaining an early childhood system that ensures Black and Brown children and families have access to high-quality early childhood care and education regardless of race, income, and zip code.

Defining the Problem

WHAT’S AT STAKE

The issues plaguing the early childhood system in St. Louis extend far beyond facilities.

  • Limited Availability


    There are over 89,000 children between the ages of 0 and 5 in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. Licensed childcare facilities only have the capacity to serve 47,219 children. Service gaps are most pronounced for families facing the challenges of poverty. Just 19% of children eligible for subsidies have a seat in a program that meets accreditation quality requirements beyond the basics of licensure.

  • Unbalanced Infrastructure


    The system lacks the infrastructure to provide access to high-quality care and education where it is needed most. Some providers have hundreds of children on their waitlists; other centers can barely fill 50% of their approved seats.

  • High Costs


    The national affordability standard for early childhood care and education is 7% of household income. In our region, costs range between 10% and 15% of household income. Since subsidies are not high enough to cover the cost of high-quality care, providers must charge higher fees or refuse to accept children who need subsidies. This further burdens low-income families.

  • High Turnover


    Low wages and minimal benefits for teachers and caregivers perpetuate high turnover rates that further impede efforts to create high-quality care settings. Missouri does not require that ECE educators receive paid family leave or paid sick days. Wages and benefits are insufficient to both attract and retain a strong workforce. Those who do work in early childhood care and education must balance the demanding nature of their work with the stress and anxiety of their own financial precarity. High worker turnover means providers must devote precious time and resources to finding new workers. Low wages and lack of benefits limit the number of qualified candidates available.

  • No Metrics for Quality


    Missouri is one of only 12 states that does not have a universal quality rating system to measure, improve, and sustain equitable, developmentally-appropriate ECE programming. Which means parents and ECE Providers do not have a comprehensive definition of quality to help guide decision-making and professional growth and development.

  • Stress at Home


    Negative environmental factors in the first five years of life contribute to grave short-term deficits in school readiness, mental health issues, and poor language and cognitive development. In the long term, effects include lower high school graduation rates, higher teen pregnancy rates, and reduced adult income and employment.oes here

  • Biased History


    We did not arrive at this moment by accident. Decades of decisions by those in power and those with the power to influence led us to this point. In most instances, the decisions made throughout our history have benefitted certain groups, typically wealthier and white families, and further marginalized and oppressed groups, typically poorer and Black and Brown families. These decisions about policy, funding, and priorities have been made at all levels of community and government, including the 1971 decision at the federal level not to create public preschool for the entire nation.

“We care about children, parents, providers, and communities. We identify what providers need and want, and we do everything in our power to help build a high-quality early childhood system.”

—LaDonna Ellis, Director of Capacity Building Projects

Shaping the Solutions

OUR CORE VALUES

Realism, hope, and taking action as a community will move us forward.

Equity

Every Black and Brown family deserves to have access and opportunities to affordable, high-quality early childhood care and education. No one should be able to predict the outcomes of a child’s life based on race, household income, or zip code.

Love

Everything we do comes from a place of love. Love for our children and their families. Love for our peers and partners in the ECS. Love for our communities and our region.

Resilience

We find a way. We don’t give up. We use the resources at our disposal, leave it all on the field, and come back tomorrow to keep fighting for our kids.

Communication

We acknowledge the harm that private interests and policies that support them have done in our community. We are committed to creating and maintaining an open dialogue by ensuring community members lead our work and as an organization, we communicate directly about our actions.

Accountability

We rely on the community of families and providers to hold us accountable. We take responsibility for our actions, and we learn from them so that we can do better next time.

Action

The best-laid plans don’t mean a thing if we don’t act upon them. We need to coordinate, plan, and strategize so that we can then take action to fulfill promises and achieve our goals.

GET TO KNOW US

These are the people who make it all possible.