The Basics in DuPage County

Read below about the work that DuPage County is doing to implement the Basics

Who

The Basics DuPage is a county-wide initiative stemming from the work of the DuPage All Our Kids Early Childhood Collaboration (DAECC). Basics DuPage is led by Deyanira Cabrera, Community Initiatives Coordinator at the DuPage County Health Department (DCHD). DCHD serves as the backbone organization for Basics DuPage & DAECC.

What

 The DuPage Early Childhood Collaboration (DECC) was established in 2014 as a regional early childhood collaboration to support county level system development and alignment for young children and their families, to build awareness and to facilitate access to high quality early childhood services and education. In 2022, DuPage County Health Department (DCHD) was named the backbone agency for the DuPage Early Childhood Collaboration (DECC). In the same year, the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development awarded DCHD the All Our Kids (AOK) grant. In order to best support early childhood initiatives in DuPage County, DECC and AOK merged to form DuPage AOK Early Childhood Collaboration (DAECC) in 2023.

Why

 Birth to Five Illinois conducted the Early Childhood Regional Needs Assessment between September 2022 and June 2023. Key findings are as follows: DuPage has a robust landscape of ECEC services supported by a community of dedicated individuals and organizations who promote the well-being of all young children. However, despite its attributes, DuPage does not currently have the capacity to ensure equitable outcomes for all. Though community collaborations and networks of professionals are doing their best to compensate for these lapses in opportunity, until statewide systemic issues and local discriminatory practices are corrected, vulnerable populations will continue to be left behind. DAECC’s vision is that all children in DuPage County have equitable opportunities for kindergarten readiness and life-long success. Our mission is to support an equitable early learning system through a county-wide collaboration of organizations, partnering with families and communities utilizing the Basics universal program allowing all service providers of different sectors to implement with the families they serve. Through the Basics initiative, we can focus on improved developmental outcomes for all children, ages 0-5 in DuPage County. 

How

Our mission is to bring early childhood professionals, parents, and community stakeholders together to promote the healthy development of young children and to ensure that all children have access to high-quality early childhood programs and services. DAECC works to achieve its mission through a variety of initiatives, including advocacy, parent education and support, and data collection and analysis. 

Basics DuPage raises awareness about early childhood development and builds capacity throughout the community by using a socio-ecological approach that recruits and equips partner organizations from multiple sectors across the county. Partner organizations engage families with children 0-5 with education and information on ways to embed the 5 Basics Principles into everyday routines.

The DAECC has begun implementing Basics programming through the DuPage County Health Department: Family Health Services and Healthy Families, Teen Parent Connection, and Villa Park School District 45. Our vision is to continue saturating the community through partner organizations county-wide. 

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