The Basics of Greater Elgin Initiative Launches on 

Friday, April 11, 2025 

The Basics Principles is a Set of Five Science-Based Strategies

to Help All Young Children Thrive

ELGIN - Dr. Ron Ferguson, faculty director of the Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University, will be the keynote speaker on Friday, April 11, as Enriching Partnerships for Early Learning launches The Basics of Greater Elgin, a community-wide movement to equip families with simple, fun, and effective ways to ensure every child gets the strong start they deserve.

The Basics is a science-based approach that supports the development of critical skills in language, literacy, physical development, and social-emotional growth of children from birth to age 5. It is based on five principles, called The Basics Principles, that promote positive child-parent interactions and support the development of babies and young children to ensure they are ready for kindergarten.

“The Basics is designed to empower families with simple, yet powerful, early learning principles that set the foundation for lifelong success,” said Amber Peters, Executive Director of Enriching Partnerships for Early Learning, the umbrella organization under which The Basics of Greater Elgin will operate. “Parents and caregivers don’t need costly technology, fancy toys, or extra hours in the day to support their children. By incorporating The Basics Principles into their everyday routines, parents and caregivers can prepare the young children in their lives for a bright future.”

Enriching Partnerships for Early Learning, formerly known as Elgin Partnership for Early Learning, is an early childhood community collaboration serving the eleven communities within School District U-46. The non-profit organization, which is focused on children 5 and under, works collaboratively to build a family-centered, equitable, and high-quality early childhood system that raises awareness about the importance of early learning, connects families to vital resources, and expands access to early childhood initiatives and education programs. Twenty-nine community partners, including the City of Elgin, Kane County Health Department, School District U-46, and the Seigle Foundation are supporting EPEL’s lead on The Basics. (A full list of launch partners, pilot partner launch sites, and funders can be found here)

The launch event for The Basics of Greater Elgin will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, April 11, at the Centre of Elgin, 100 Symphony Way, Elgin. In addition to hearing from Dr. Ferguson, other scheduled speakers include Elgin Mayor David Kaptain and School District U-46 Superintendent Dr. Suzanne Johnson. Attendees will also enjoy hands-on activities that will explain how and why The Basics works and listen to a panel discussion consisting of individuals active in local childcare, medical, and charity initiatives. Attendees will also explore early childhood data that highlights the urgent need for action in the area of early learning.

“While School District U-46 continues to increase preschool opportunities in our elementary schools, The Basics provides a unique opportunity to reach all of our families and young children beginning at birth,” said Katie Cox, U-46’s Director of Early Learner Initiatives. “It’s an approach that addresses the whole child and honors parents as their child’s first teacher. We believe it will have a dramatic, positive impact on school and life readiness for the children whose families participate.”

Also included in The Basics initiative is The Basics Insights, a texting platform that helps families put The Basics Principles into action. Each week, it sends parents and caregivers two texts in their chosen language, offering science-based insights and age-appropriate activities to support their child’s development. These “behavioral nudges” reinforce the use of The Five Basics Principles.

Participation in the Basics is free for parents and guardians of young children who live in the Greater Elgin Area.

Community partners, including childcare providers, churches, medical providers, housing developments, employers, libraries, and museums, will be enlisted to help enroll parents in the texting program and share The Basics Principles with families. By integrating these messages across various community spaces, families will experience a saturation of consistent, supportive messaging about how everyday moments help build their children's brains.

The texts are centered around the Basics Principles, five simple, fun, and powerful ways to support children’s health development and lifelong learning. They are:

Maximize Love, Manage Stress - Warm and responsive parenting lays the foundation for healthy social, emotional, and cognitive development

Talk, Sing, and Point - Talking, singing and pointing support oral language development and later reading ability.

Count, Group, and Compare - Everyday activities focused on amounts and categories promote early math and reasoning skills.

Explore through Movement and Play - Movement and play build strong bodies and active imaginations.

Read and Discuss Stories - From infancy, frequent and interactive book reading is associated with cognitive and language development.

Karen Ceballos, whose educational background is in public health, is the Coordinator for the Basics of Greater Elgin. She is also certified in trauma-informed care, multicultural competency, mental health first aid, and as a health educational specialist, and is fluent in English and Spanish.

Ceballos said it is important for The Basics to be flexible and responsive to the needs of Greater Elgin’s diverse population.

“Parents and caregivers want to create a foundation in which their children can be successful, but not all are confident about how to make that happen,” Ceballos said. “The Basics provides the knowledge and the support so that parents and caregivers can use simple, positive, everyday actions to help children get the best possible start. ”

The Greater Elgin area will be the fourth community in Illinois to adopt the Basics, joining DeKalb County, DuPage County, and Rockford. Dr. Ferguson, who is an MIT-trained economist, founded The Basics, Inc. based on work and research he did with The Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University.

For more information, visit thebasics.org and enrichingpartnerships.org.

Members of the media, community leaders, elected officials, early childhood partners, parents, or caregivers interested in attending the April 11 launch event or being a Basics engagement site should contact Amber Peters at amberpeters@enrichingpartnerships.org