By Steve Kopian MARCH 11, 2022 This is a hopeful tale of a program that gives kids enough of a leg up that they have a good shot at succeeding. I was so impressed that I found myself investigating the program right after I finished the film. The portrait this film paints such a good picture that you will wonder how the hell the program hasn't spread all across the county. You need to see this film....
By Liz Whittemore MARCH 11, 2022 In the SXSW22 short film Tomorrow’s Hope, filmmaker Thomas Morgan examines the effect of two foundations for early childhood education on its first-ever class. Educare and The Ounce of Prevention Fund are sound arguments for universal Pre-K. I’m a former preschool teacher who can attest to the impact these years have on the lives of children and their families. Working in a school in the River City Building in downtown Chicago, I taught predominantly Head Start...
By Carey MARCH 8, 2022 Austin’s South by Southwest starts in just a couple of days on the 11th, but the SXSW Edu has already begun. A film that is part of it is Thomas Morgan’s documentary Tomorrow’s Hope. It is a short film at 44 minutes long but it says a lot. A film which follows the journeys of three graduates from the Educare School to their graduation and afterward....
This podcast originally aired on Lights Camera Austin on March 6, 2022 Interview by Robert Sims The documentary Tomorrow's Hope: The Promise of Early Childhood Education celebrates the early childhood education program developed and taught at Start Early’s (formerly Ounce of Prevention Fund’s) Educare Chicago. The school opened in January 2000 to provide high-quality education to children from birth to age 5 from low-income families living on Chicago's South Side. The documentary spotlights three members of Educare Chicago's first-ever class as they...
By Jeff Stein February 17, 2022 The White House was unable to extend an expansion in the Child Tax Credit amid pushback from Sen. Joe Manchin III The number of American children in poverty spiked dramatically in January after the expiration of President Biden’s expanded child benefit at the end of last year, according to new research released on Thursday....
We are thrilled to announce that "Tomorrow's Hope" is screening at SXSW EDU (followed by a Q&A) - March 7th in Austin, TX....
By Nora Delaney February 10, 2022 A new bipartisan report calls for "rewriting the generational contract" to increase investments in America’s children significantly by shifting funds from programs that now go toward supporting older, wealthier adults. In the report, "Rebalancing: Children First," leading scholars convened by two of the country’s most respected think tanks propose directing more national funds to help children. Currently, more than 40% of the federal budget flows to Americans over the age of 65, compared to only 7.4% spent...
By Anya Kamenetz February 10, 2022 Dale Farran has been studying early childhood education for half a century. Yet her most recent scientific publication has made her question everything she thought she knew. "It really has required a lot of soul-searching, a lot of reading of the literature to try to think of what were plausible reasons that might account for this."...
By Jessica Grose February 2, 2022 In January, parents of kids under 5 told me they were in a state of despair and semi-panic; emotionally, they were at the lowest I’d heard them since the pandemic’s beginning in March 2020. ...
By Naomi Martin and Jenna Russell January 17, 2022 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Leighton Harris, 4, sat with her classmates on a rug before a whiteboard. One of her two teachers praised the little girl’s calm, attentive posture: “I love how Leighton is sitting.’’ A year before the start of kindergarten, Leighton is well-prepared, having already practiced not just her letters and numbers, but also subtle skills key for school success, such as breathing through stress and the art of sitting quietly and...
January 11, 2022 As the Omicron variant surges and U.S. schools deal with a substitute teacher shortage and related pandemic fallout, don't be surprised if a return to remote or hybrid learning leads your kids to act out, a new study warns....
January 10, 2022 Emily C. Hanno, PhD The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the education of more than 1 billion children worldwide, with many experiencing shifts between remote, hybrid, and in-person learning. As the COVID-19 pandemic and interruptions to learning continue, we need to understand their consequences for children’s behavioral health to inform response efforts. We used longitudinal data to examine how children’s behavioral well-being differed by learning format....
January 5, 2022 High rates of teacher turnover are among the greatest barriers to building high-quality early childhood education (ECE) systems. In the United States, teachers working with the youngest learners turn over at much higher rates than those in the K-12 education system....
December 2, 2021 SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a whopping $300 million in relief grants for childcare providers. Pritzker says the grants are designed to assist the families of 95,000 children by making childcare more affordable....
Interviews and personal accounts from our grant recipients and 2021 Family Childcare Networks Innovation Winners....
October 28, 2021 This fall, two apprentices at the Coleman Center for Early Learning will serve as a pilot group. Secretary Barbara Cooper of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education (ADECE) joined leaders from Troy University, Wallace Community College, and the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship to officially sign documents establishing Alabama’s first apprenticeship for Early Childhood Educators on Wednesday, October 27, 2021, at the Coleman Center for Early Learning on the Troy University Dothan Campus, 504 University Dr, Dothan, AL....
October 26, 2021 The Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation documentaries Tomorrow's Hope and Kaotic Drumline: Drumming with a Difference screened (in person!) in Los Angeles at Regal LA Live Cinemas, at the 12th Annual Awareness Film Festival. The Panel ("The Next Gen") featured the filmmaking team conversing about the films' inspirational personalities and their remarkable creativity in the face of tremendous challenges, as well as discussing themes including systemic inequality and advancing hope of building a brighter future....
October 12, 2021 Many Americans pay more for child care than they do for their mortgages, even though the wages for those who provide the care are among the lowest in the United States. Democrats see the issue as a fundamental market failure and are pushing a plan to bridge the gap with federal subsidies. We went to Greensboro, N.C., to try to understand how big the problem is and to ask whether it is the job of the federal government...
October 12, 2021 Tonight at 10pm EST, PBS airs an hour-long documentary that takes an in-depth look at how the lack of affordable, quality child care is affecting American families, which has plagued families in the U.S. for more than a century....
October 5, 2021 Governor Hunt received the Dr. Robert E. Bridges Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021 at WakeEd Partnership's Stars of Education event....
Sep. 30, 2021 By Betsy Biemann & Keith Bisson COVID-19 didn’t just reveal a broken child care system. A confluence of events dramatically worsened the frayed patchwork of child care programs in the US, after significant drops in center enrollment when parents lost jobs, shifts from in-school to at-home learning, and uncertainty about health and safety during a global pandemic. Since a lack of licensed child care options has long correlated with higher rates of unemployment, underemployment, and poverty, these problems only...
September 13, 2021 Host Matthew Toffolo has a conversation with filmmaker Aaron Steinberg on the process making this documentary short, Kaotic Drumline, winner of BEST DIRECTION at the 2021 Chicago Feedback Festival....
September 9, 2021 KAOTIC DRUMLINE: DRUMMING WITH A DIFFERENCE played to rave reviews at the September 2021 MUSIC Film Festival. Interview with Matthew Toffolo and posted to matthewtoffolo.com....
By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday called for urgent action to make affordable childcare available to more families, calling such investments critical to ensuring U.S. growth and global competitiveness....
SZCF is pleased to announce that Starting at Zero is now available on Kanopy. Kanopy partners with public libraries and universities, providing ad-free films and series that can be enjoyed on all devices – TV, mobile phone, tablet and online. Kanopy is available to students/faculty/patrons at universities and libraries that offer the platform....
Starting at Zero was screened at the 2021 Block Island Festival on September 9. Following the screening was a Zoom Q&A panel with Director, Willa Kammerer....
During the week of July 12-16, 2021, our partners at PBS NewsHour examined America’s fractured child care system and its impact on women, children, people of color and the economy. If you missed their special coverage, click here to watch the segments....
Start Early August 10, 2021 Last month, families across the country began receiving the first payments under the Advance Child Tax Credit (ACTA), a part of the American Rescue Plan Act. For many families with young children, like Educare Chicago parent Cheryse Singleton-Nobles, the expanded Child Tax Credit offers integral support that increases their ability to provide a stable environment and experiences for their children to thrive. “A lot of us are struggling. Even though the pandemic is ending, that doesn’t end the...
Big news! We're excited to share that tonight and all this week, PBS NewsHour is examining the current state of the American child care system in a special five-part series, titled "Raising The Future." The feature kicks off this evening, Monday, July 12, with a segment that examines how America’s child care landscape has dramatically changed as the country emerges from the pandemic and what’s at stake in this critical moment....
Monday, July 12, 2021 - PBS NewsHour reports on America's broken child care system, communities on the front lines and new political momentum for major reform in the post-COVID era. ...
Beginning July 12 and airing over the course of that week, PBS NewsHour will broadcast “Raising the Future: America’s Child Care Dilemma,” a five-part series that takes an extensive look at America’s child care crisis. The struggle to find affordable, quality child care has always been one of the biggest issues for American families and Covid-19 only exacerbated the problem. ...
New research from NORC at the University of Chicago, Start Early, and the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research finds that Chicago policies intended to increase access and enrollment to full-day, school-based pre-k were also related to higher kindergarten entry skills and ultimately better academic outcomes in second grade, particularly for high-priority students....
With help from SZCF, Mountainfilm for Students is offered at no cost to K-12 public schools in conjunction with Mountainfilm on Tour shows. These curated playlists are customized by grade level with informative and inspiring content. Classroom materials developed by teachers to align with College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards are available for select films....
Fox 32 Chicago May 20, 2021 Jamal Poindexter and Anita Harvey-Dixon talk about the new 'Tomorrow's Hope' documentary....
May 21, 2021 Larry Mantle and KPCC film critics Angie Han, Wade Major and Peter Rainer review this weekend’s new movie releases, including 'Tomorrow's Hope.' Review is about 33:20 into the program....
By Elaine Hegwood Bowen, M.S.J. May 13, 2021 “Tomorrow’s Hope: The Promise of Early Childhood Education” brings us into the journey of passionate educators and tenacious kids and their families on the South Side of Chicago, determined to carve out the future – despite a sea of incredible challenges....
The Science of Early Learning and Adversity: Leadership in Early Learning Settings in a Post-Pandemic Era To be held virtually June 16-17. Designed for early education leaders, this program will explore the latest science of early learning and what this means for the work ahead in cultivating strong, responsive, and supportive environments in the wake of the pandemic....
By Cody Uhing May 10, 2021 This morning, the School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released the findings of a new study on the long-term effects of Boston’s preschool program. Using admissions lotteries, the research found that participation in the preschool program led to significant long-term improvements in academic and behavioral outcomes in children. ...
Neely Swanson May 17, 2021 “Tomorrow’s Hope” is a bright spot within the blight that is poverty, not just on the South Side of Chicago, but anywhere opportunities are as lacking as faith in a broken system. Subtitled “The Promise of Early Childhood Education,” director Thomas Morgan gives us an intimate view of Educare, a novel early education intervention program....
Mon, May 17, 2021 The documentary 'Tomorrow's Hope' shares inspiring stories about the changing landscape of children's education in Chicago....
By Rebecca Rubin April 14, 2021 “Tomorrow’s Hope,” a documentary about the importance of quality early childhood education, has sold North American rights to the independent distributor Abramorama. Following a virtual live premiere on May 20, the company plans to release the film nationwide on demand on May 21. “Tomorrow’s Hope” spotlights passionate educators and tenacious kids and their families, who transcend the limitations imposed on them as students growing up on the south side of Chicago. The documentary is told through three present-day...
By BILLY JEAN LOUIS BALTIMORE SUN APR 13, 2021 When TT the Artist started working on “Dark City Beneath the Beat” in 2011 ― an hourlong musical documentary highlighting the Baltimore club music and dance culture featuring city artists — there were times she didn’t think the project was going to happen because she didn’t have enough money. “There were years that went by where I couldn’t even figure out what the next step was, but through grants, I was able to pick up...
By Justin Criado Telluride Daily Planet Mar 25, 2021 With funding assistance from the Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation the Pinhead Institute’s Telluride FIRST Lego League robotics team is heading to states for the first time ever, after the squad of seven local students qualified during a remote regional competition over the weekend. Team Brickbusters — Rider Abbott, Noah Baker, Lincoln Butson, Stella Coe, Andres Jacinto, Kaila Rebolledo Unda and Eleanor Rosen — wowed the judges with its life-sized “friz-fraz-frow” project, which is a more...
NEWS PROVIDED BY Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative Dec 17, 2020 The Saul Zaentz Early Education Initiative at the Harvard Graduate School of Education announced today that it is accepting submissions for the inaugural Family Child Care Innovation Networks Award. This new award is designed to spark, accelerate, and sustain community-based peer learning networks among family child care providers across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Family child care providers are an essential part of the early education and care ecosystem, in Massachusetts and across...
By Mark Swartz September 10, 2020 The Founding Fathers built competition among the states into our system of government. With 50-plus laboratories for democracy, we’re bound to come up with powerful and efficient ideas for optimizing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At least that’s how it’s supposed to work....
Gov. Ralph Northam and the First Lady of Virginia Talk Early Education Platform with Dan Rather. ...
By IndieWire Staff August 24, 2020 The Saul Zaentz Charitable Foundation, The Hunt Institute, and The Ounce of Prevention have announced two special, free events to support Willa Kammerer’s upcoming documentary “Starting at Zero: Reimagining Education in America.” The film culminates with a call to governors to invest in high-quality early childhood education to support today’s workforce and the workforce of tomorrow....
By Cinemacy August 2020 The debate about ways to enhance our system of education often lacks voices to represent our youngest learners. Our concern about increasing test scores for school-age children and similar standards of evaluation fails to shed light on the conversation we really should be having, and that is the attention to the earliest years. Starting at Zero: Reimagining Education in America director Willa Kammerer effectively highlights this too often neglected topic in a powerful way....
By Summer Evans August 13, 2020 Kindergarten began in Germany and arrived in the United States in the mid-19th century. Since that time, kindergarten has been considered the beginning of formal education. For a long time, researchers have known that education really starts at birth and early education (pre-K) should be available to all. Willa Kammerer’s new documentary “Starting at Zero: Reimagining Education in America” showcases the importance and power of investing in high-quality early childhood education so that all children and families have...
Oregon Governor Kate Brown, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer join Lt Governor Juliana Stratton and Former Secretary of Education John King in a discussion on the importance of early childhood education in advance of the Starting At Zero world premiere....