Inclusive Literacy Alliance

In 2025, First Steps Kent launched the Inclusive Literacy Alliance (ILA) with a simple belief: families closest to the challenge should help design the solution.

First Steps Kent saw that families of children with developmental differences, including autism, blindness or low vision, and deaf or hard of hearing, were navigating literacy supports that often felt fragmented and isolating. Instead of creating another top-down initiative, the ILA was built as a true partnership with families.

Over the past year, more than 20 parents and nonprofit leaders worked together to study the system, review data, learn from national practices, and design practical solutions. Through surveys, interviews, and a large community convening of more than 100 parents and professionals, one message became clear: families were not only seeking services. They were seeking connection.

Parents shared how overwhelming the first days after a diagnosis can feel. Kristen Knapp, a speech-language pathologist and mother, described searching endlessly for answers when her daughter showed early signs of developmental differences. There were resources available, but no clear path to follow.

From stories like hers came one of the Alliance’s first pilot ideas: Welcome Kits for newly diagnosed families. Designed by parents, the kits would include a small gift for the child, practical literacy tips, a list of trusted community resources, and an invitation to join a peer mentoring program. The goal is simple. Families should feel seen, supported, and not alone from the very beginning.

Another parent leader, Cara Sutliffe, transformed her own experience of isolation after her son’s deaf diagnosis into action. She is helping design a Peer Mentoring program that connects parents who are newly navigating a diagnosis with those further along in the journey. While literacy strategies and resources are part of the program, the heart of it is empathy, shared experience, and resilience.

The Alliance’s work reflects the Power of Early. When families are supported early, especially during moments of uncertainty, children are better positioned to thrive. By centering parent leadership and building real relationships, the Inclusive Literacy Alliance is strengthening early literacy in Kent County in a way that is both practical and deeply human.

Dozens of families have already been impacted simply because the system chose to listen and respond. The Alliance continues to move four pilot ideas forward, guided by data, collaboration, and the voices of families themselves.