Offering Early Education Leadership, Training & Research
Affiliated Programs
About Us
High-quality early care and education plays an essential role in society, ensuring young children are able to learn, grow, and thrive in the healthiest possible ways. This kind of early care and education requires bold, effective, and creative leaders with a shared vision who reflect the racial, cultural, and linguistic richness of our communities. Early Education Leaders, an Institute at University of Massachusetts Boston (Early Education Leaders) amplifies the talent that already exists in the workforce to advance the field of early care and education. Founded in 2016, we drive systems change by investing in workforce and leadership development, research, and the larger early education ecosystem to cultivate effective leaders who reflect and represent their communities. We consistently and successfully make accessible, high-quality early care and education a reality for more children and families, while supporting the professional growth of a diverse workforce of early educators. As a result, Early Education Leaders is nationally recognized as a model of excellence.
Our Vision
We envision a world where racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse early educators are valued, respected, and sustainably supported as they transform early learning, ensuring all children are growing, thriving, and learning.
Our Mission
Early Education Leaders drives systems change in early care and education. We cultivate racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse leadership that reflects local communities through innovative research, professional development, and advocacy. We amplify educator voices, build field-wide infrastructure, and nurture leadership that ensures all young children and families experience equitable learning opportunities.
Investors & Partners
Partners and investors are critical to Early Education Leaders' work in cultivating leadership from the field of early care and education’s (ECE) diverse workforce. Key partners who’ve made transformational grants to support this work include the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and New Profit.
Professional, community, government, and philanthropic entities that share our vision to dramatically transform quality in ECE and who have supported us with funding, strategic advice, and programmatic collaborations are listed below:
- Boston Children’s Hospital Foundation
- The Boston Foundation
- Boston Public Schools Early Childhood Department
- City of Boston
- Child Trends
- Children's Literacy Initiative
- Community Labor United
- Department of Higher Education
- MA Department of Early Education and Care
- Maryland Early Childhood Leadership Project - Sherman Center for Early Learning and Urban Communities, University of Maryland Baltimore
- Mathematica Policy Research
- Mayor’s Office of Women’s Advancement - City of Boston
- New Profit
- Project Hope
- Promise Venture Studio
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation
- Stanford University Center on Early Childhood
- Start Early Tech Goes Home
- UMass Donahue Institute
- United Way
- University of Delaware
- US Department of Education
- US Department of Health and Human Services
- Vital Village Network
- Zero to Three
Early Education Leaders
Healey Library, Floor Lower Level, Rm 15
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393
617.287.4383
email: earlyedleaders@umb.edu
The institute is part of the College of Education and Human Development.
Email Us