The Basics of Greater Elgin

Who

EPEL collaborates with families, early care educators, and cross-sector community partners to build an equitable, high-quality early childhood system that places families at the center. Our work involves raising awareness about the importance of early learning, equipping families with essential resources, and expanding access to early childhood experiences and programs.

Focusing on children five and under, we use local data and parent voice to develop a connected and easy-to-navigate system, ensuring every child and family can thrive. Through these efforts, EPEL strives to create a brighter future for young children and their families across our communities.
Through a collective impact approach, EPEL promotes the holistic development of young children in the Greater Elgin Area. Our mission is to engage families, organizations, the early childhood workforce, and healthcare providers dedicated to creating a collaborative community-wide system of support for every young child to succeed in school and life.

EPEL focuses on three interconnected pillars crucial for positive child and family outcomes: early learning and development, family support, and health. By fostering collaboration across these systems, we help ensure that children and families in our community thrive.

The Basics of Greater Elgin is led by Karen Ceballos, EPEL’s Basic Coordinator, Andrea Vargas, EPEL’s Community and Family Engagement Coordinator,  and EPEL, Executive Director, Amber Peters.

Why

EPEL is launching The Basics in the Greater Elgin Area because we recognize the critical need to support young children and their families during the most formative years of life. With only 24% of children in our community entering kindergarten ready to learn, our community faces challenges in ensuring every child has the foundation they need to succeed in school and life.

The Basics principles provide an accessible, research-based framework to promote early learning and development for children ages 0-5. By embedding these principles into everyday routines and interactions, we can help families nurture their children’s social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development.

Launching The Basics allows us to:

1. Raise awareness about the importance of early childhood development.
2. Equip families with simple, actionable strategies to support their child’s learning.
3. Promote equity by ensuring all families—regardless of their background, language spoken, or resources—have access to essential tools and support
4. Strengthen community connections by uniting organizations, businesses, and individuals to collectively prioritize early learning.

This initiative will also deepen our community’s understanding of how early childhood development shapes the future of our children, families, and the Greater Elgin area as a whole. Through The Basics, we are building a stronger, more equitable foundation for lifelong success, one family at a time.

How

EPEL’s collaborative vision is clear: Young children and their families in the Greater Elgin Area have equitable opportunities to thrive.

Guided by our mission to engage families, organizations, the early childhood workforce, and healthcare providers in creating a collaborative community-wide system of support, EPEL is launching The Basics of Greater Elgin initiative. This effort leverages the strength of our 140 cross-sector community partners to bring the Basics Five Principles to life, ensuring every young child has the foundation to succeed in school and life.

A 30-member Basics Launch Team, composed of diverse cross-sector partners, meets twice a month to develop a full saturation plan. Organized into committees focused on training and outreach, communication, and onboarding families onto the Basics Insights texting platform, the team is committed to embedding The Basics principles into the fabric of the community.

EPEL’s Basics Coordinator, Karen Ceballos, and Community and Family Engagement Coordinator, Andrea Vargas, are leading this initiative, working hand in hand with partners to engage families with children ages 0-5. Together, they are informing and equipping partners and families with resources, strategies, and support to incorporate the 5 Basics Principles into their everyday routines as part of their child’s “Road to Readiness.”

Using a socio-ecological approach, EPEL aims to deepen the impact of The Basics by strengthening relationships and building capacity across sectors. Through this collective effort, we envision a future where every family and community member understands the importance of early childhood development and works to saturate The Basics principles into every interaction they influence.

Together, we are creating a community where young children and their families thrive.

Resources

To find out more information about the early childhood collaboration’s work, the backbone organization of the Basics of Greater Elgin, and to implement The Basics in your organization, visit their website: www.elginpartnership.org or the collaboration.

Get involved with Basics Illinois