As the biggest developing country in the world, China is now tackling the pressing problems of child poverty, whilst facing the increasing aging population at the same time. In August 2009 and April 2010, the China Development Research Foundation (CDRF) officially launched the Project Equal Start: Program of Early Childhood Development in Poor Rural Areas in Qinghai Province and Yunnan Province, which aims at enhancing early childhood development and tackling poverty in poor rural areas. In this article, we described the development the pilot programs’ sites, objects and phases, and also evaluated the significant improvement in multiple dimensions such as children’s early development, education attainments, and parental involvement. At last, it analysed the CDRF’S pilot programs’ policy advocacy, and prospected its influences over how to universalize early childhood development and education in poor rural China.