Recent expansion of media coverage of early childhood issues and increased funding for early childhood programs are due in part to deliberate efforts to increase public engagement in efforts to improve the lives of young children and their families. This brief describes recent early childhood public engagement efforts and outlines lessons for public engagement leaders. The report is presented in three parts. Part 1 of the report defines public engagement and describes how national, state, and local leaders have engaged the public in early childhood issues. Part 2 outlines seven key lessons that informed these efforts. These lessons are: (1) see a campaign in stages; (2) know how people see the issue before beginning; (3) target people who have the power to elicit change; (4) delineate costs of not taking action as well as the benefits of change; (5) create different messages for different groups; (6) timing is crucial; and (7) unexpected messengers make a difference. Part 3 offers concrete tips for how a wide variety of community entities can take action to promote the healthy development of the nation's youngest children. Two appendices contain Starting Points Projects contact information and a media resource list. (Contains 16 references.) (KB)