Strengthening the Early Childhood Education Pipeline from Birth through Grade 3
Southeast Children's Fund builds and sustains a strong early educator workforce by preparing, retaining, and advancing educators, strengthening classrooms, communities, and long-term school success across Washington, DC.
The Workforce Foundation Early Learning Depends On
Early learning quality and educator stability across the birth through grade 3 continuum are critical predictors of long-term academic success. Southeast Children's Fund addresses persistent workforce instability in early childhood education by strengthening educator preparation, retention, and advancement, ensuring that classrooms, families, and communities benefit from consistent, effective instruction across Washington, DC.
More than 30 years of preparing and advancing early educators across Washington, DC's most critical learning years.
Practice-based learning that links credentialing and degree pathways to workforce readiness and instructional continuity.
Serving hundreds of educators and their classrooms citywide, with deep roots in the communities we serve.
30 Years of Sustained Impact
Serving DC's early childhood workforce since 1994
Across the District, providers, centers, and institutions
Supported with credentials, degrees, and professional growth
Workforce stability and instructional quality across DC
Growing workforce stability and instructional quality across the birth through grade 3 continuum.
Why we've spent 30 years showing up
Southeast Children's Fund fosters community development by empowering children and families through education, career development, and holistic support services, rooted deeply in the communities we serve.
A DC where educators are prepared, supported, and connected — and where children, families, and communities thrive because the system around them is coherent, equitable, and built to last.
Workforce instability in early childhood is not inevitable — it's addressable. We exist to strengthen educator preparation, retention, and advancement across birth through grade 3, and to align those pathways with the systems that depend on them.
Experienced Leadership Driving Workforce Impact
Southeast Children's Fund is led by an experienced executive and program leadership team with deep expertise in early childhood education, workforce development, and fiscal stewardship. Our leadership ensures that investments translate into strong implementation, accountability, and long-term system impact across Washington, DC.
- Strategic Executive Leadership guiding citywide workforce alignment from birth through grade 3
- Dedicated Program Oversight for DC LEAD and CDA educator pathways
- Strong Financial & Operational Stewardship supporting compliance, transparency, and scale
Our Core Strategies
Practice-based pathways that link credentialing and degree programs with workforce readiness, from CDA to bachelor's and beyond.
Mentorship, peer learning, and leadership supports that stabilize classrooms and sustain long-term educator careers across DC.
Resources and partnerships that strengthen early learning for families and communities across all eight DC wards.
Built for DC's Early Childhood Community
Two robust, searchable tools designed to help educators, families, advocates, and funders find what they need and understand the landscape shaping early childhood in DC.
Find Resources Built for You
24 verified resources across childcare, food, housing, health, workforce development, and advocacy, searchable by ward, cost, language, and audience.
The State of Early Childhood in Washington, DC
An interactive ward-by-ward data dashboard tracking child poverty, care access, reading proficiency, and household income across all 8 DC wards, sourced from ACS 2020-2024 and OSSE.
Let's Build the Future of Early Learning Together
SCF invites funders, partners, and system leaders to join us in strengthening early learning outcomes and workforce stability across DC.