After several years of COVID, it’s clear that Jumpstart’s work is needed more than ever. The pandemic drastically changed children’s learning environments, with many infants and children experiencing less language input from fewer adults. We know that these interactions are critical for early oral language development, which sets children up for reading success—and eventually, success through high school, college, and professional life. To ensure a bright future for all children, Jumpstart is creating learning environments where children experience a language infusion and receive individualized support that will help them thrive.
As I look back at a year that had its share of challenges, I am filled with gratitude for our entire network. This includes our supporters, staff, higher education and early childhood partners, and college student Corps Members. I have an incredible amount of pride in all that we’ve achieved together. Though the pandemic is not over, we are transitioning to a new normal that honors what we learned while returning to in-person programming wherever possible. We have expanded our leadership team which strengthens us as an organization, worked to create an inclusive internal culture, and provided thought leadership and advocacy to support the entire ECE sector, and it is because of YOU that this work is possible. Looking ahead, I see a bright future where we continue to positively impact the lives of children and the adults who support them.
In service and gratitude,
Naila Bolus
CEO, Jumpstart
Growing Our Impact
Despite challenges due to the pandemic, a resilient and flexible approach enabled Jumpstart to continue to create language-rich environments in preschools across the country where children could develop important foundational skills necessary for later success. Jumpstart Site Managers were agile, creative, and resourceful—engaging and supporting college student Corps Members through challenges of their own, adapting the curriculum so that sessions could be implemented by smaller teams in compliance with safety guidelines, and pivoting their approach during sporadic closures and re-openings of preschool partners so that we could continue to reach children and positively impact their lives.
In 2021-2022*, there were:
Jumpstart Corps Members actively serving our preschool partners
young children reached
of children Jumpstart reached made vocabulary gains beyond what would be expected given typical development
families engaged through Ready4K text messaging program, community programming, literacy kits to families, and recorded content
*This reporting period encompasses September 2021-August 2022
Number of Jumpstart Sites
Developing the Early Care and Education Workforce
Jumpstart has been working to cultivate a diverse and well-prepared early care and education workforce by providing enhanced training for college student Corps Members, working with university partners to pave a seamless pathway toward a career in early care and education, and strengthening support for alumni who have already entered the education workforce through:
- Enhanced training: New training modules that help Corps Members develop key competencies that will prepare them to succeed as educators.
- Pathways toward entering the workforce: Working with university partners to deeply integrate Jumpstart into education degree programs— such as developing a course dedicated to Jumpstart, or having Jumpstart service count towards service-learning credit—so that college students who aspire to become educators have a seamless path to follow. This year, two sites achieved full integration of Jumpstart into their university bringing the total to eight.
- Support for professionals: In addition to supporting current college student Corps Members, Jumpstart was able to offer five professional development workshops for Jumpstart alumni many of whom are BIPOC and first-generation college students. Jumpstart is connected with at least 650 alumni who are currently working as early educators and serving more than 8,500 children.
Jumpstart Corps Members expressed interest in pursuing a career or higher degree related to their Jumpstart service
Corps Member Spotlight: Tiara from San Francisco State University
Meet Tiara from San Francisco State University, one of the 2,132 Corps Members serving with Jumpstart this year. She came to Jumpstart as an Art major, and after her second year changed her major to Education. Tiara has served four semesters as a Jumpstart Corps Member and qualifies for an Assistant Teacher Permit. Now, in her fourth year at SFSU, Tiara works full-time at a Title V preschool in San Francisco, while continuing to serve as a Corps Member in a different Title V school. She is also a peer mentor for another Corps Member who has a learning disability and is enrolled in SFSU’s Inclusion Pilot Project. Tiara says that her Jumpstart experience inspired her to reconsider her life goals and change her career path so that she can work with children, families, and communities. Her career goal is to be a lead preschool teacher, and she would love the opportunity to help mentor future Jumpstart Corps Members!
Leading Conversations and Driving Change in Early Care and Education
Jumpstart has been a leading voice in national conversations around early care and education and equity, being featured in Education Weekly, The Boston Globe, Inside Philanthropy, Fortune, The Hill and on The Today Show.
Jumpstart staff also have delivered keynote speeches, workshops and panels this year, including:
- Dr. Ashley C. Williams (pictured top left), VP of Programs and co-founder of Black Californians United for ECE, delivered a keynote address on California’s ECE Workforce. Dr. Ash is actively presenting and participating in ECE Workforce thought leadership across the country.
- Jamella Lee (pictured bottom left), Chief People Officer, is serving as the co-lead for the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion NE Regional Group and working on a planning a Summit in support of this work. She also serves as a member of the Massachusetts Board of Early Education and Care.
- Naila Bolus, CEO and Jessica Lazzara, Vice President, Education & Research hosted our virtual Building Futures Event which highlighted the research and critical oral language interventions and support needed for children to thrive, and featured a panel of experts – Stephanie M. Curenton, PhD, Director of the Center for the Ecology of Early Childhood Development; Associate Professor, BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development; and Jill Gilkerson, PhD, LENA, Chief Research and Evaluation Officer.
Children in underserved communities were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and language development was no exception… and those communities that were impacted the most need that extra attention, policy, resources, and systems that support them and set up optimal learning… It’s important to note that setting up an optimal learning environment creates some wonderful opportunities for children. It promotes agency and building off children’s assets and interests really affirms their identity. There is a lot of opportunity for inclusion, and access for rich language opportunities and activities, and when possible, there are extra trained and caring adults to help these students with this, like at Jumpstart.
– Jessica Lazzara Vice President, Education and Research, Jumpstart for Young Children
Policy and Government Relations
Jumpstart has driven positive policy changes that are making the early care and education system more equitable. The Policy & Government Relations team’s advocacy efforts included:
- Helping lead a state-wide coalition to achieve the largest investment in early care and education in Massachusetts history.
- Building momentum for the Build Back Better Reconciliation Act. The United States Senate bill was one vote away from the nation’s largest investment in early care and education since World War II when public childcare programs flourished.
- Helping achieve landmark legislation in California and Massachusetts that limits racially inequitable discipline practices of excluding preschool children from classrooms.
Read for the Record
Jumpstart’s 17th Annual Read for the Record Engages 2.1M Children and Adults
This year’s Read for the Record—an annual campaign that shines a spotlight on the importance of early literacy by bringing together millions of children and adults to read the same book on the same day—included live events for the first time in two years at schools, libraries, The LEGO Group’s US headquarters, The Children’s Museum of Atlanta, The TJX Companies, Inc., and more.
Read for the Record engaged millions across 9 countries and 51 states and territories, and thousands of schools and communities. For the first time, Read for the Record featured a book, Nigel and the Moon, written by an African American male author, Antwan Eady. Jumpstart and Antwan hosted the 2022 Read for the Record panel discussion, “Dreaming Big: Challenges and Opportunities for Black Male Representation in the Classroom,” along with Atlanta education leaders J. Fidel Turner, Jr., Ph. D., Dean of Clark Atlanta University’s School of Education and Johnathon Hines, Georgia’s first African American male “Preschool Teacher of the Year”.
Read for the Record Sponsors
Presenting Sponsor – TJX
Baretz + Brunelle
BJ’s
Cerberus
First 5 LA
Franklin Templeton
Holwell Shuster & Goldberg
Jeffrey and Loren Feingold
KeyBank
Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
Lazard
MFS
The Sullivan Family Foundation
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Wolters Kluwer
Yolanda and Brooks Taylor
Our Work Ahead
With nearly 30 years of experience increasing access to high-quality early care and education for children in America, Jumpstart has served over 157,900 children with the support of more than 62,500 college students, community volunteers, and alumni who are credentialed ECE teachers.
However, Jumpstart is in a pivotal moment. Living into the mission to put children first requires reimagining what’s possible, and resilience with intention towards larger systems change. Here’s a glimpse at what’s ahead:
Direct Service
Jumpstart is strengthening and deepening family, community, and alumni engagement and programming across the country.
Early Care and Education Workforce
Together with university partners, Jumpstart is paving a seamless path for aspiring educators to enter the early care and education workforce and advance their careers.
Advocacy
Jumpstart is advocating for policies that will improve the early care and education system, including better wages for educators and equitable access to early care and education for all children regardless of immigration status.
Our Supporters
Thank you to all of our donors who gave during the 2021-2022 fiscal year. Jumpstart would not be able to do what we do without your generous contributions.
$500,000+
AmeriCorps
Connecticut Commission on Community Service
CaliforniaVolunteers
Chris and Loretta Stadler
Massachusetts Service Alliance
Red Nose Day USA
Robert and Jennifer Waldron
Serve DC—The Mayor’s Office on Volunteerism and Partnerships
The TJX Foundation
$250,000 – $499,999
Missouri Community Service Commission
New York City Department of Youth and Community Development
State of Massachusetts
Stranahan Foundation
Tracy & Greg Johnson Foundation
$100,000 – $249,999
Anonymous
Commonwealth Children’s Fund
CVC Capital Partners
David Humphrey and Markella Zanni
Eastern Bank Foundation
First Republic Foundation
Franklin Templeton
Ian and Caitlin Blasco
Jennifer and Andrew Marrus
Katie and Mark Pinho
Lissy Family Fund
Lorie Almon and Mitch Bompey
Mimi and Peter Haas Fund
News Corp
Philippe and Ana Laffont
Richard W. Goldman Family Foundation
Robert Small and Christine Olsen
Silver Giving Foundation
The Clifford Family Foundation
Thomas Connolly
Vanguard Charitable
$50,000 – $99,999
Anonymous
Bank of America
Bella Vista Foundation
Carmel Hill Fund
DCU for Kids
EJ and Lori Whelan
Jordan and Evonne Meranus
LEGO Community Fund U.S.
Lovett-Woodsum Foundation
Lucy Green and Mark Flannery
Marilyn F. Friedman
Megan Sheetz
Mr. Ross Jones
Ted and Kathy Truscott
The Pinkerton Foundation
The Rose Hills Foundation
United Way of Greater Atlanta/Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation
Financials
Expense Ratios
Revenue Breakdown
