The First Step to Equity: Building a Better Future Through Early Childhood Education in St. Louis is a needs assessment of the early childhood education (ECE) system in St. Louis City and St. Louis County. This analysis blends quantitative and qualitative methods to develop localized strategies targeted at the unique needs of communities throughout the region. First, IFF performed a supply and demand gap analysis comparing the availability of licensed and license-exempt ECE providers to the need for ECE services for children birth to five-years of age to quantify levels of access across the region. Then, IFF held conversations with providers and parents in communities with the most and the least ECE access to understand their perspectives and the unique challenges they each face to further inform the work. (author abstract)