Building community capacity to promote child wellbeing and achieve equity.
Launched in 2016
Scale and sustain equitable transformation systems
Launched in 2016, Networks of Opportunity for Child Wellbeing (NOW) is a national network strengthening the capacity of communities and coalitions across the nation that are promoting child wellbeing and aligning early childhood systems of care and education to advance equity. . As a centralized hub of resources, stories, and peer learning tools, NOW supports the success of communities, community coalitions, and their local partnerships as they eliminate systemic barriers and lift up community-driven solutions.
NOW builds on the Vital Village Network approach, and uses a trauma-informed lens, to promote optimal growth and healthy development in early childhood, by creating opportunities for every community to access peer support and resources to achieve health and educational equity.
Our long-term goal is to achieve health and educational equity by creating opportunities for every community to access peer support and resources to align systems of education and care in early childhood. Improving the ability of local communities to achieve systems change and population health is critical to promoting a sustainable culture of health.
Read about the history of NOW and 2026 strategic planning.
Use the tabs above to learn more about each of the NOW Innitiatives: NOW Levers of Community Change, Peer Learning Clusters, Webinars, Podcast.
Welcome to the NOW Resource Library, an online repository of tools and resources relevant to community capacity building to improve child wellbeing. Communities can submit new resources using our online form.
To get started, browse the Resource Library menu below and click on the title to view additional information about the resource and a link to access the file. You can also search for specific resources by either:
Keyword Title Search
Type in key search terms and resources containing these key words in the title will appear; OR
Topic
Select from the left-side menu to search for resources by key content areas.
Reset the search by clearing the search field or selecting "All Topics" in the drop-down menu.
Between 2018 and 2020, NOW hosted a national Learning Community, supporting 10 selected communities over 18 months to build knowledge, skills, and tools to scale and sustain equitable transformation of early childhood, education, and health systems in their neighborhood, city, or county. Each recipient received in-depth, tailored technical assistance in key capacity-building areas — such as utilizing equity tools and frameworks, mobilizing community leaders, using data and storytelling tools, and communicating with diverse stakeholders — in order to build a strong and healthy foundation for all children and families.
NOW's levers of community change are key components that we believe are critical to ensure the equitable transformation and alignment of community systems - in a way that moves those most impacted by inequity from margin to center.
Equity requires intentional and targeted attention to the communities that bear the disproportionate burden of health, economic, and education inequality — more often than not, low income communities and communities of color.
Coalitions have emerged as an effective and impactful vehicle to bring diverse sets of organizations and stakeholders to the table, leverage collective resources, and coordinate action across program, community-based, organizational, and advocacy activities to achieve a common goal.
We believe that equitable transformation and alignment of community systems requires intentionally shifting those most impacted by inequity from margin to center.
What story is the data telling us? We recognize that data — quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods — is only as powerful as the stories behind it.
Resources are a necessary ingredient for any successful community health or education effort. However, the reality of limited funding and competition for scarce resources, coupled with the longer time window often needed for systems change efforts, can create challenges for community coalitions and initiatives seeking to advance health equity and promote optimal child and family wellbeing. Planning for sustainability can help mitigate these challenges and help your coalition thrive for the long term.
The Peer Learning Cluster (PLC) Program aims to facilitate a peer-led safe space that provides opportunities for connection, professional growth, and exchange of tools and resources that transform healthy equity and child wellbeing in communities across the country. Since 2021, the PLC program has been designed, led and facilitated by a co-leadership team of local advocates, practitioners and leaders from across the country. This program has been and continues to be shaped by the current and past leadership of the program.
Through the 2026 Advocacy and Community Leadership Workshop Series the PLC delves into practices that center family and community leadership for transformative change. Learning with and from one another, the PLC community explores how to sustain collective advocacy power and ensure a just future where all children and families can thrive. This workshop series is designed for professionals in fields dedicated to early childhood health, education, and wellbeing, as well as caregivers and family advocates.
Judy D. Bennett
Consultant, Programs for Parents, Inc.
New Jersey
Kellie Begaye
Victim Resource Specialist, New Mexico Crime Victims Reparation Commission
New Mexico
Colleen Roan
Coordinator - McKinley County Early Childhood Coalition
New Mexico
The NOW annual webinar series offers ongoing opportunities for shared learning and networking for leaders, advocates, practitioners and movement makers from across the country.
Join us each year for focused sessions featuring expert speakers, promising practices, and success stories that highlight strategies that can be applied across sectors and move us toward our collective liberation.
How do we design systems that cultivate shared humanity, connection, and agency in everyday practice? In The Practice of Belonging series, we will explore what it means to cultivate belonging—not as an accidental outcome, but as an intentional practice. Through real-world examples and reflections, we will hear from local leaders who examine how everyday practices of humanity, relationship building and shared responsibility shape communities where people experience dignity, voice and collective care. Featured community leaders and advocates will share concrete insights and practical approaches from their work on how belonging is created through systems that prioritize connection, safety, dignity and care. Join us as we move from intention to action—building communities where shared humanity, connection and agency move our collective liberation forward.
Thursday, June 4, 2026
11am-12pm Pacific / 2-3pm Eastern
In the second installment of the 2026 NOW Webinar series, The Practice of Belonging, we explore the question, how do practices of interconnectedness and interdependence deepen both the feeling and practice of belonging? Alongside featured local leaders, we learn how lessons from the early care and education field show us what Prentis Hemphill describes as “rest[ing] in the collective” is a necessary strategy for intentional belonging. Through real world examples of this practice – from classroom to state policy – we examine how practices of recognition, interdependence, and agency create pathways for radical connection and transformative systems change.
In the Arena with NOW lifts up the voices of community leaders who are “in the arena” - in classrooms, playgrounds, Congressional halls, hospitals, and neighborhood streets - to make sure that all children and families can live healthy, thriving lives. Each episode delves into the experiences of local coalitions, residents, and experts and the best practices and strategies they are using to create equitable systems of care that can support healing, joy, and equity towards the wellbeing of children and their families
The theme for this season is Imperative of NOW: Community Power and Healing-Centered Advocacy. Tune in every other Thursday starting October 24, 2024 to hear from community leaders who are centering healing, power sharing, and narrative change in their advocacy efforts to create thriving, healthy communities.
Interested in sharing your story or participating in a podcast episode? Contact us.
