Guest Advocate: Impact Early Childhood Education in Your Region
April 2, 2026
Original coverage in the Spring 2026 Issue of The Prairie Career Advocate (page 10).
By Paul Larson, Regional Council Manager for Birth to Five Illinois: Region 26 and Heather Nah, Regional Council Manager for Birth to Five Illinois: Region 3.
Illinois has a goal of becoming the best state in the nation for families to raise young children by improving and expanding the delivery of child care and early learning programs for children from birth until they start Kindergarten.
Birth to Five Illinois is a statewide Early Childhood Regional Community System. Dedicated staff convene 39 Action Councils and 39 Family Councils across the State to gather real-time input about the available Early Childhood services and to understand families’ access barriers specific to each Region.
Regional Action and Family Councils are comprised of parents/caregivers, Early Childhood Education and Care providers, elected officials, and many other community members and leaders. The goal of the Birth to Five Illinois community system is to share recommendations with local and state leaders, giving them more accurate and timely information to inform funding and policy decisions. In the meantime, Birth to Five Illinois supports local stakeholders in closing the Early Childhood gaps they have identified.
In the initial three-year period, the Birth to Five Illinois Teams and Council members in each Region:
Produced an Early Childhood Regional Needs Assessment that includes community recommendations for how to improve Early Childhood services for families.
Helped the community create a Regional Action Plan using the recommendations in the needs assessments to outline goals for change.
Produced a Mental and Behavioral Health Needs Assessment featuring stories from families and teachers about their access challenges and successes.
Paul Larson is the Regional Council Manager for Birth to Five Illinois: Region 26, which includes Fulton, Hancock, McDonough, and Schuyler Counties. Together his Team and Action and Family Councils identified areas of focus based on locally identified family needs, including:
Increasing the number of available child care slots, especially for children aged two and under.
Supporting the existing Early Childhood workforce and nurturing the pipeline for future teachers.
A lack of qualified and available staff is one barrier to increasing child care slots; if you do not have teachers to teach, you cannot open more classrooms. Therefore, the Birth to Five Illinois: Region 26 Councils are producing new materials and widely sharing information on the importance of Early Childhood Education, the need for more licensed home child care providers in rural areas, and the opportunity to grow the workforce by offering Early Childhood Educator pathways in high schools and community colleges throughout the Region.
Heather Nah is the Regional Council Manager for Birth to Five Illinois: Region 3, which covers Bond, Christian, Effingham, Fayette, and Montgomery Counties. Families and community members in that part of the State identified different needs, so the Region 3 Team, Action Council, and Family Council are focusing their efforts on collaborating with local programs to raise awareness of the available Mental Health support for parents and caregivers by:
Creating and disseminating a list of available Mental and Behavioral Health services.
Sharing information on Postpartum Support International (PSI) with parents and caregivers in the Region.
No matter where you live in Illinois, there is similar, community-based work happening to support families, Early Childhood teachers, and early care and education opportunities for young children. We hope you will connect with one of the 39 Birth to Five Illinois Regions throughout the State. Visti www.birthtofiveil.com/councils, find your county, and visit a dedicated page for your Region where you can:
Read your Region’s Community Reports
Sign up for your Region’s Newsletter
Join your Region’s Facebook Group
Contact your Regional Council Manager to discover how else you can get involved
About the Authors:
Heather Nah (she/her) is the Regional Council Manager for Birth to Five Illinois: Region 3 (Bond, Christian, Effingham, Fayette, and Montgomery Counties). She is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University and worked in foster care for several years before joining Birth to Five Illinois. In her free time, she enjoys being with her family, gardening, and baking all things sourdough.
Paul Larson (he/him) is the Regional Council Manager for Birth to Five Illinois: Region 26 (Fulton, Hancock, McDonough, and Schuyler Counties). He has over 20 years of experience in the human services field, working in high schools, colleges, faith communities, park districts, and nonprofit organizations. Paul graduated from Western Illinois University and Loras College. He has been married for 19 years and has three children.