The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored who is advantaged in the US and who is not. While many of us have experienced some hardship over the past three months, the pandemic not only has laid bare the hardships that many families and children always experience - it has exacerbated them. These families and children are the furthest from opportunity who have faced historic and current discrimination based on race, ethnicity, language, and/or immigrant status. During the pandemic, they have endured the shuttering of child care facilities (if they had access to begin with) while not having the privilege of working from home. They have not been able to socially distance themselves due to close living conditions and/or being essential workers. They have had no choice but to put themselves and their families at risk. How can leaders build a more equitable high-quality early care and education system?

State and community system responses point to changes we may want to fight to maintain to benefit young children and families. Strategies include bridging the digital divide, paying for enrollment instead of attendance, telehealth, virtual home visiting and foster care visits, and increased compensation.

This session will provide an opportunity for participants to consider how we can reform, transform, revise, and rebuild in ways that create sustainable income and access to programs, services, and supports that benefit young children and families, especially those furthest from opportunity. How will leaders use their authority and influence to shift resources, programs, and services to meet health and safety requirements while considering other shortcomings of the early childhood services? (Presenters: Darnell McPherson-Boyd, Mayor of Lamar, SC; Felicia DeHaney, Kellogg Foundation; Elizabeth Groginsky, New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department; Sherri Killins Stewart, BUILD Initiative.)