The Fellowship is designed to develop a pipeline of diverse, knowledgeable, committed leaders and build the capacity of organizations working to promote early childhood care and education in Illinois. While the state could do much more (and while recent funding stuggles have taken their toll), Illinois is recognized a national leader in providing early learning opportunities for children, and the Fellows Program aims to build on and strengthen that work.  Illinois has one of the country’s oldest and largest Head Start programs, begun in 1965. Since 1986 the state’s Early Childhood Block Grant has supported preschool education, parent training, and coordination of services for at-risk infants and toddlers.  In 2006 Illinois launched Preschool for All, expanding access for 3- and 4-year-olds across the state through public school and community-based providers.  Illinois has established an Early Learning Council to coordinate among different providers, created a path breaking Quality Rating System to help parents evaluate program quality, and made significant investments to improve teacher quality. All of these accomplishments have led the National Institute for Early Education Research to rank Illinois among the top states for providing access to preschool for 4-year-olds, number 1 in providing access for 3-year-olds, and one of the top 10 states in meeting quality benchmarks. 
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