Cross-System Workforce
Provide our youngest children with high-quality early care & education by investing in the workforce
We cannot achieve our vision for Illinois without investing in the professionals across our state who serve expecting families, infants, and toddlers across the relevant systems of care. However, early childhood pipelines, pathways and professional competencies are often outdated, inaccessible or lack adequate incentives. It can be challenging, if not impossible, for early childhood professionals to receive enough compensation and professional support to live decently. We must do better for the workforce that supports our future.
Illinois has an opportunity to address workforce shortages and long-standing inequities in the early childhood workforce, as well as make mental health services more accessible to families. To build a strong pipeline of professionals with diverse specializations, coordinated efforts are needed to align professional competencies and pave the way for necessary professional development and supports. We must compensate them and support them in this critical work.
Our Goal
Enhance the higher education, professional development, and consultation opportunities available to support, train, upskill, and retain both new and incumbent professionals who work with expecting families, infants, and toddlers across all PN3-serving systems.
Objectives
- Preserve, expand, and promote accessible and affordable higher education and career advancement pipelines and pathways for the PN3 workforce, including through apprenticeships, scholarships, and loan forgiveness.
- Coordinate efforts to retain the incumbent PN3 workforce by strengthening compensation, paid time off, health care benefits, retirement options, and other supports.
- Align and integrate accessible professional development opportunities for the prenatal-to-age-3 workforce to support cross-training across the various systems of care.
- Deepen statewide cross-agency governance, coordination, and utilization of Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health (I/ECMH) Consultation to promote children’s mental health by supporting the professional capacity of the PN3 workforce.
Cross-System Workforce Priorities
Fiscal Year 2026
View our Cross-System Workforce Priorities to learn how our coalition is moving the needle this fiscal year.