Bainum Family Foundation’s Post

Curious to know when our foundation first began focusing on early learning?  In 2015, under Barbara Bainum’s strategic leadership, we shifted our efforts from focusing on students from grades K-12 to early learning (ages 0-8). At the time, she conducted a needs assessment, which emphasized the importance of early childhood (ages 0-5) interventions in making a lasting impact on children and their families. But Barbara didn’t just trust the research — she also had candid conversations with our partners to hear from them what their needs were.  Today, Early Childhood is our foundation’s primary focus. We’ve been able to dive further into the work, broaden our impact, and address — holistically — the critical early years of development.

After 16 years, we wish farewell, with appreciation and gratitude, to our Chair of the Board — Barbara Bainum. From starting the Bainum Foundation Farm to shifting our efforts to focus on Early Childhood, she has guided our organization through an era of great transformation and innovation, while always asking: What more can we do? Her unwavering commitment to ensuring children and families have the resources and supports they need to thrive will live on for generations to come. Thank you for your years of service and exemplary leadership, Barbara! 

With our WeVision EarlyEd initiative, we are intentionally shifting away from simply naming the child care crisis and hoping it gets solved. Instead, we are utilizing the expertise of proximity experts (i.e., families and early childhood education professionals) to define their ideal child care system and push to make that ideal real… right now.  This work is future-facing and transcends the limitations of the current child care system. In this dynamic future, young children and families will have equitable access to a range of quality child care options that receive adequate resources and support, including early childhood education programs in home-based settings otherwise known as family child care. It was great to be recognized by our partner the Florida Family Child Care Home Association (FFCCHA) as an “Innovative Mind Sponsor.” Our partners like FFCCHA have been performing the challenging, but necessary, balancing act of simultaneously navigating the current system while also reimagining it.

Our CEO, David Daniels, VP of Early Childhood, Marica Cox Mitchell, and Director of Early Childhood Strategy Implementation, Demetria Joyce, attended the National Child Care Innovation Summit, hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the U.S. Department of Commerce, which brought together stakeholders in the private and public sectors to discuss the vital role child care has in our nation’s economic infrastructure.    It is exciting to see the child care sector continue to receive its long-overdue visibility and recognition. We are building on this unprecedented momentum through our WeVision EarlyEd initiative where we are leveraging the insights of proximity experts (i.e., families and early childhood professionals) to reimagine child care and make their ideal real.

Our VP of Early Childhood, Marica Cox Mitchell had the pleasure of presenting today at the 2024 #Learners2EarnersSummit.   A core shift highlighted in our WeVision EarlyEd initiative is rethinking when learning begins. It was great to elevate the importance of investing in the early years as part of a robust education agenda with our partners Florida Chamber of Commerce, FACCT - Florida Alliance of Children's Councils and Trusts, and The Children's Movement of Florida.

Glad our VP of Early Childhood, Marica Cox Mitchell, was able to join a great panel consisting of our partners, experts in the field, and other funders to discuss the importance of investing in local networks and initiatives led by early childhood educators and administrators in home-based settings (i.e., family child care). Supporting the family child care sector and its leadership, in the way they want to be supported, benefits young children and families. The National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), Florida Family Child Care Association (FFCCHA), Benu Chhabra from Bay Area Professional Family Child Care Network, Erikson Institute, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Heising-Simons Foundation

On this #Juneteenth, we honor the road toward justice for all. At the Bainum Family Foundation, we stand committed to becoming an antiracist organization while continuing to invest in lasting systems change.   As a nation, it is important to take time to reflect on where we've been, where we are today, and how we can achieve an equitable society where all children and families thrive.