As the nation struggles through both COVID-19 and critical conversations about justice and social equity, state leaders need to look inward and think about what problems they have the power to solve. A new crisis is emerging before our eyes as low-income children, many of them children of color, face new barriers to accessing early care and education. Early education in America may again become a luxury afforded only to the wealthy.

When I was governor of Mississippi, I helped create the Family Based Unified and Integrated Early Childhood System, which connects and integrates resources and services for both parents/caregivers and their children. This system was expanded as Mississippi secured a $10.6 million federal Preschool Development Grant (Birth Through Five) entitled, “Connected for Success: A Family-Based Unified and Integrated Early Childhood.”