Framing early childhood development: Strategic communications and public preferences

The purpose of this report is to focus on the role that strategic communications approaches can play in helping state MCH programs and their collaborating partners frame their message and influence the way that key constituencies understand early child development and the need for a more functional and comprehensive early childhood service system. Often when new initiatives are being launched, communications is an afterthought and is relegated to the function of outreach or dissemination. Increasingly, those responsible for launching major initiatives requiring reformulation of existing public policies into a new and more useful framework also recognize the key role that communications strategies can play. In this report, we draw from the rich research literature on mass communications for policy change. We utilize this body of work to suggest ways in which the principles of strategic communication can be used to move specific issues forward, in this case the issue of early child development and early childhood systems building. We also draw upon our experience in research and consulting with a number of groups at the state and national levels that have targeted early child development as an issue for policy change. Because many in the MCH and child development field may not be familiar with the field of strategic communications, we begin with a brief review of how the field developed and its potential application to early childhood.