CULTIVATING CHANGE
THROUGH
EMPOWERMENT
Proving what’s possible when we build child care differently.
Truth Education Foundation exists to answer one important question:
What happens when we design child care to work FOR early childhood educators, families and communities instead of forcing them to survive broken systems?
Truth Education Foundation conducts applied, real-world research inside functioning child care environments to prove what works, why it works and how it can be replicated at scale. Our research focuses on three interconnected initiatives.
Research Initiative #1:
Educator-First Policy Research
Designing Systems that Put Educators First
We research how educator-first policy design changes everything downstream.
This research is grounded in a simple but powerful premise:
Children thrive when the adults who care for them are supported, respected and resourced.
Truth Education Foundation studies how educator-first policies and practices impact:
Workforce stability and retention
Educator wellbeing, burnout reduction and professional growth
Classroom climate and emotional safety
Family trust and continuity of care
Community outcomes and economic stability
Our research examines how changes in compensation structures, benefits, professional pathways and workplace culture create healthier learning environments, including why educator wellbeing is foundational to child development outcomes.
Our research proves that caring for educators is not a “nice-to-have.” It’s the starting point for sustainable early childhood systems.
Research Initiative #2:
Sustainability & Revenue Model
Center-Level Self-Sustainability
High-quality child care cannot survive on tuition and subsidy alone.
Truth Education Foundation is researching and documenting a groundbreaking sustainability model that reframes child care centers as productive social infrastructure, not fragile cost centers.
By designing centers to maximize revenue and become social hubs:
Facilities can generate earned income beyond tuition
Educator compensation can be stabilized
Professional development and ownership pathways can be funded
Reliance on emergency philanthropy can decline over time
Through multipurpose community space, cafés, shared commercial kitchens and mission-aligned program revenue, this model demonstrates that child care can become financially self-sustaining while deepening community integration.
This research is answering a question policymakers and funders are urgently asking: Can child care become economically stable by design — not by rescue?
Research Initiative #3:
Implicit Bias & Equity Impact Research
Changing Culture, Not Just Policy
TEF also researches how educator-first systems influence implicit bias, classroom culture and racial equity outcomes.
We study how supportive work environments, professional development and community-integrated models impact:
Educator self-awareness and reflective practice
Bias recognition and cultural responsiveness
Classroom inclusion and emotional safety
Long-term outcomes for Black and Brown children
This research explores how institutional design influences human behavior, including how redesigned systems can reduce harm, improve belonging and reshape opportunity trajectories.
Let’s build together.
Across the country, early childhood programs are collapsing under unsustainable financial pressure, workforce burnout and widening racial inequities. Families struggle to find care. Educators leave the field. Communities lose critical infrastructure.
Truth Education Foundation conducts applied, real-world research inside functioning child care environments to prove what works, why it works and how it can be replicated at scale.
Submit the form below to gain access to our reports & models.
Early Results
We’ve partnered with a third party research firm to test our theory of change in a early childhood education center, and the results thus far have been impressive. Follow us to see how we’re expanding our research to include several other childcare facilities.
Hear it from educators working at the test site.
Fund Us
Help us build PROOF.
Your investment fuels research showing that when we prioritize educators, children and families thrive. These changes benefit the community as a whole.
Be part of the solution.
The ONLY thing missing is
YOU!
Influence Policy
Leverage your POWER.
Partner with us to bring educator-first policies to the people who write the rules. Together we can change outcomes at scale.
Help us reshape what early childhood can be.
Provide Support
Stand WITH educators.
Offer your expertise, space, partnerships or services to strengthen the environments where children learn—and the people who teach them.
Your support makes a tangible impact.