All Our Kin

All Our Kin
Name	All Our Kin
Formation	1986
Founder	Peggie R. Bailey
Type	Nonprofit organization
Headquarters	New Haven, Connecticut
Region served	United States
Focus	Early childhood, family support, child care networks

All Our Kin

All Our Kin is a nonprofit organization founded in 1986 focused on building and sustaining family-based child care networks primarily in Connecticut and expanded nationally. The organization originated in New Haven and has influenced policy debates and program design related to early childhood care through partnerships with local and national entities. All Our Kin works at the intersection of child welfare, early childhood development, workforce development, and community organizing, engaging practitioners, policymakers, and funders.

History

All Our Kin was established in New Haven by Peggie R. Bailey amid local efforts to improve child care access and quality in neighborhoods served by institutions such as Yale University and the New Haven Public Schools. Early alliances included collaborations with social service agencies and neighborhood groups connected to Community Action Program initiatives and local chapters of organizations like United Way of Greater New Haven. During the 1990s and 2000s, All Our Kin partnered with municipal authorities and state offices, interacting with agencies analogous to the Connecticut Department of Social Services and research units at Yale School of Medicine and Yale School of Management to develop training curricula and program evaluation protocols. The organization’s growth intersected with federal policy shifts under administrations such as the Clinton administration and Barack Obama’s tenure, which emphasized early childhood investments through initiatives linked to entities like Head Start and advisory groups associated with Office of Child Care reforms.

Programs and Services

All Our Kin operates a range of programs intended to support family, friend, and neighbor caregivers, including training, business development, and peer networks. Core services include technical assistance similar to models promoted by National Association for the Education of Young Children affiliates, coaching inspired by approaches from Zero to Three and programmatic toolkits used by Harvard Center on the Developing Child. The organization runs incubator-style programs that mirror elements of workforce development models applied by Goodwill Industries and AmeriCorps-linked initiatives. In partnership with municipal early childhood offices and foundations such as The Annie E. Casey Foundation and The Ford Foundation, All Our Kin provides curriculum resources patterned after research from institutions like University of Connecticut and evaluation support comparable to methods used by Mathematica Policy Research.

Methodology and Approach

All Our Kin’s methodology emphasizes capacity-building through peer networks, coaching, and business supports for informal caregivers, integrating practices derived from community-based participatory research at institutions like Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and program design principles promoted by RAND Corporation. The approach combines adult learning strategies used by Teachers College, Columbia University programs with quality improvement frameworks associated with Institute for Healthcare Improvement and measurement tools influenced by research from Urban Institute and Brookings Institution scholars. All Our Kin applies a mixed-methods evaluation strategy akin to studies by Abt Associates and MDRC, coupling quantitative outcome measures with qualitative case studies modeled on ethnographic work from scholars affiliated with Harvard University and Princeton University.

Impact and Outcomes

Evaluations and case studies suggest All Our Kin contributed to increased caregiver knowledge, business stability for family providers, and improved child-level outcomes in settings evaluated in collaboration with research partners such as Yale University and policy analysts from Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. Reported outcomes mirror findings from broader early childhood research disseminated by National Institute for Early Education Research and program syntheses published by Pew Charitable Trusts. Longitudinal tracking conducted in partnership with university researchers has documented changes in caregiver retention and program sustainability analogous to trends reported in studies by Child Trends and The Brookings Institution on family child care networks. The organization’s model has been replicated or adapted in municipalities working with state early care entities and philanthropic partners including Blank Foundation-type funders and regional community foundations.

Funding and Partnerships

All Our Kin’s funding portfolio has historically included support from private foundations, municipal contracts, and grants aligning with philanthropic strategies of organizations such as Carnegie Corporation of New York and Kresge Foundation. The nonprofit has entered partnerships with academic centers like Yale Child Study Center, advocacy groups comparable to National Women's Law Center, and intermediary organizations such as StartEarly and Child Care Aware of America for scaling technical assistance. Federal and state programmatic collaborations reflect alignment with initiatives administered by agencies parallel to Administration for Children and Families and state-level early childhood offices, while research partnerships have included entities similar to Urban Institute and independent evaluators like NORC at the University of Chicago.

Recognition and Criticism

All Our Kin has received recognition from civic leaders, academic partners, and philanthropic funders for innovation in supporting family-based child care, earning commendations comparable to awards given by organizations like Council on Foundations. Analysts and critics, however, have raised concerns about scalability and long-term funding sustainability, echoing debates seen in evaluations of community-based models produced by Brookings Institution and Mathematica Policy Research. Some scholars drawing on literature from RAND Corporation and Urban Institute have questioned the generalizability of localized training models without systemic policy changes at state and federal levels, noting tensions similar to critiques of other incubator-style social interventions.

Category:Non-profit organizations based in Connecticut