About Bright & Early DuPage
Bright & Early DuPage (B&ED), an initiative of DuPage Foundation, is a unique program designed to leverage area resources to ensure that all DuPage children from birth to age five receive the comprehensive support critical in preparing them for success in kindergarten and beyond.
Community by community, B&ED is engaging and uniting local organizations and individuals to build awareness for and facilitate access to early childhood education and support services for DuPage children and their families. Each year, the B&ED initiative provides grant funding to local community organizations to help establish, build and maintain early childhood collaboratives. B&ED also serves as a voice for early learning and child-friendly policies at all levels of government.
Vision
Every DuPage child will be ready to succeed in kindergarten.
Mission Statement
To build sustainable, coordinated, local early childhood systems that actively work to increase access to quality education and support for children and families with limited resources.
Expanding early childhood collaboration into additional communities is a Bright & Early DuPage priority. Communities interested in exploring the implementation of an early childhood collaboration should contact Barb Szczepaniak at 630-598-5280 or barb@dupagefoundation.org.
Grant Opportunity
Although there are many ways to support young children and their families, the Foundation is most interested in supporting the development of new early childhood collaborations or those already in existence which are focusing on building local capacity for early childhood resources in the community, and family outreach and engagement in order to connect families to those resources. This includes identifying needs/resources to develop and implement a plan which expands high-quality early childhood education capacity and provides family support/education.
The application deadline for 2025 is Friday, June 6 at 5:00pm.
