The Early Childhood Networked Improvement Community (EC NIC) brings together practitioners, educators, leaders, students, faculty, researchers, and other professionals committed to improving outcomes for young children, families, and the systems that support them.
Members contribute diverse perspectives, experiences, and expertise while working together to explore challenges, identify promising solutions, and support meaningful improvement across early childhood and early elementary settings.
EC NIC is rooted in early childhood, but membership is open to people across roles, sectors, and disciplines whose work connects to children, families, development, learning, health, leadership, or systems change.
Who Joins?
EC NIC members represent a wide range of roles and disciplines, including:
- Educators
- Family and community professionals
- Program leaders and administrators
- Organizational leaders
- Early intervention and developmental specialists
- Mental health and behavioral health professionals
- Higher education faculty
- Undergraduate and graduate students
- Applied researchers
- Community partners
- Others whose work intersects with early childhood systems
Why Join?
Membership provides opportunities to connect, learn, contribute, and collaborate with others committed to improving outcomes for children, families, and the systems that support them.
What Membership Looks Like
EC NIC membership is designed to be flexible. Members can participate at different levels depending on their interests, roles, and available time.
Throughout the year, members may:
- Join EC NIC community meetings where people across roles and disciplines share challenges, ideas, projects, and emerging learning
- Participate in a learning or improvement cohort focused on a particular area of early childhood practice
- Attend individual learning sessions, presentations, or conversations
- Bring a question, challenge, project, or idea to the community for feedback
- Collaborate with other members on projects, tools, presentations, research, or improvement efforts
- Share resources or work through the Knowledge Hub
- Contribute to NIC Drop conversations or other knowledge sharing activities
- Simply listen, learn, and become more involved over time
There is no expectation that every member participates in every activity. Members choose the opportunities that are most useful and relevant to them.
A Typical Year
The EC NIC operates as an ongoing learning community rather than a traditional training program.
During the year, members have opportunities to participate in community meetings, topic based learning and improvement groups, presentations, collaborative projects, resource sharing, and informal conversations with others doing related work.
Some members may primarily attend community meetings. Others may become deeply involved in a cohort or improvement project. Still others may contribute their expertise, connect with collaborators, mentor students, share resources, or participate in a podcast conversation.
There is no single pathway through the EC NIC.
You can enter where your interests are and participate in ways that fit your capacity.
What Happens After I Join?
When you complete the membership form, we’ll learn a little about your interests, experience, and the kinds of opportunities you would like to hear about.
You’ll then receive information about upcoming EC NIC meetings, learning opportunities, projects, resources, and ways to connect with other members.
You do not need to arrive with a project, research question, or specific area of expertise. Curiosity about improving outcomes for young children, families, and the people and systems that support them is enough.
Do I Have to Work in Early Childhood?
No.
The NIC is rooted in early childhood because the earliest years are a critical period of development and because improving outcomes for young children requires working with the adults, organizations, communities, and systems around them.
Members may work in education, health, behavioral health, higher education, family services, community organizations, leadership, research, policy, or other areas that intersect with children and families.
You do not have to identify as an “early childhood professional” to belong here.
Membership Benefits
Connect Across Roles and Disciplines
Build relationships with educators, practitioners, leaders, families, faculty, researchers, students, and community partners with a shared interest in early childhood.
Participate in Collective Learning
Engage in conversations, projects, and activities designed to explore challenges, generate knowledge, and support meaningful improvement.
Share and Showcase Your Work
Highlight projects, presentations, resources, publications, and improvement efforts through the EC NIC website, Knowledge Hub, podcast, and community activities.
Access Community Resources
Receive updates about member-generated resources, tools, presentations, learning opportunities, and emerging insights from across the network.
Contribute to Knowledge Generation
Help identify questions, test ideas, document learning, and contribute to a growing body of practice-informed knowledge.
Expand Professional Networks
Connect with potential collaborators, mentors, students, faculty, practitioners, and organizations who share similar interests and goals.
Explore Leadership and Learning Opportunities
Participate in presentations, podcast conversations, project teams, conference submissions, and other community-led initiatives.
Stay Connected to Emerging Work
Learn about ongoing projects, member contributions, improvement efforts, research, and opportunities for engagement.
Membership As Contribution
The EC NIC is built on the belief that some of the most valuable learning happens when people from different roles, experiences, and disciplines have space to think together.
Membership provides an opportunity to contribute to and learn from a community committed to inquiry, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
Investment
Membership is currently free for individuals who join during the EC NIC’s founding phase.
Founding members will help shape the development of the community and will be recognized as early contributors to the network’s growth and learning.
As the EC NIC expands, membership options and fees may be introduced to support ongoing operations, resources, and community activities.
Interested in Joining?
Membership is open to individuals interested in contributing to collaborative learning, improvement, and systems change efforts across early childhood and early elementary settings.
Questions? We’d love to hear from you.
earlychildhoodnic@gmail.com
