E8 will provide training and technical assistance to 23 Local Lead Organizations supporting early childhood programs in all 75 Arkansas counties
Excel by Eight is bringing lessons from its local models for change work to a statewide effort to strengthen Arkansas’s early childhood system.
Through a professional services contract with the Arkansas Department of Education, Excel by Eight will provide training and technical assistance to the Office of Early Childhood’s 23 Local Lead Organizations.
Created as part of the LEARNS Act, Local Lead Organizations serve as regional partners supporting early childhood programs across all 75 Arkansas counties. The 23 organizations are responsible for “strengthening early learning systems, supporting providers, and helping families access high-quality early childhood programs.”
Excel by Eight will work in partnership with the Office of Early Childhood and other organizations to coordinate technical assistance, referrals, planning, and capacity building for Local Leads. The work will support the state’s vision for a more unified, seamless early childhood system serving children, families, and providers.
The partnership builds on Excel by Eight’s experience helping communities bring families, educators, health professionals, businesses, and other local leaders together around what young children need to thrive.
“For years, we’ve had the privilege of working alongside communities as they bring together families and other stakeholders from education, health, and business to improve early child outcomes,” said Jessi Rice Woods, community impact director for Excel by Eight. “When communities can inspire focus across all sectors on early childhood, the outcomes are stronger and more sustainable.
“Now we have the opportunity to share what we’ve learned with Local Leads across Arkansas and support this shared vision statewide while strengthening the relationships, structure, and tools that make it possible.”
Across Arkansas, E8 communities are creating locally driven solutions to strengthen the systems that shape children’s earliest experiences. Excel by Eight currently partners with six communities: Conway County, Independence County, Little Rock, Poinsett County, Sevier County, and Union County.
Each community follows a five-step planning process that begins by assessing its local Resource Grid to identify strengths and gaps. Communities then determine priority areas, set goals, identify strategies, and develop an action plan. The structured but flexible process helps ensure solutions are informed by local data, shaped by community insight, and responsive to local needs.
That experience has given Excel by Eight a model for helping local partners move from identifying needs to building shared understanding, coordinating action, and strengthening the connections among the health, education, family, and community supports children need to thrive.
“Every community is different, but the conditions that support children and families are remarkably consistent,” Rice Woods said. “We work to discover what communities are already doing and what resources are apparent and build capacity that is responsive to local strengths and needs. We’re honored to be able to scale this work statewide.”
As a professional services vendor, Excel by Eight will help Local Lead Organizations build effective coalitions and advance their work in four of the five Phases of Responsibility outlined by the Arkansas Department of Education’s Office of Early Childhood: collaboration and planning, administration and use of data, supporting families, and innovative practices that respond to community-specific needs.
To view a map and list of Arkansas Local Lead Organizations, visit the Office of Early Childhood’s Local Leads webpage.
