Spring has arrived, and some brave plants have poked through the ground hoping to grow and flower. Of course, conditions need to be right from the start for them to succeed. The same can be said for our youngest community members, and as such, United Way supports several educational programs to benefit infants, toddlers and preschoolers. We see this as an effective way to make progress toward the United Way educational goal we share across the U.S.: to cut the high-school dropout rate in half between 2008 and 2018.
In order to achieve this, investment in early childhood education is critical. According to researchers at the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, an investment of $1 into a quality early learning program can give a return of $8 toward economic development in later years, with 80 percent of that return benefiting the public (e.g., through lower costs for law enforcement, prisons, remedial education, public assistance, etc.). The importance of early learning and intervention is continuing to gain attention, and our Community Investment Committee recognized this by funding several local programs.
Both Riverhouse and Silverton Family Learning Center work with kids from infancy on to focus on kindergarten readiness. One hundred percent of the families of Riverhouse preschool graduates in 2012 reported their child was emotionally and developmentally ready for kindergarten, as were six out of seven SFLC graduates. This early measure is a predictor of success in the middle grades, which is, in turn, a predictor of success in high school.
La Plata Family Centers Coalition and Early Childhood Council recognize the importance of training adults to provide great experiences for young children. LPFCC teaches parents to be great through “Parents as Teachers,” “Bright Beginnings” and “Love and Logic” classes. In turn, ECC trains education professionals to support positive social/emotional development of young kids and teaches them to use early detection and intervention for suspected emotional-development problems.
Additionally, United Way strongly supports the Early Intervention program at Community Connections. This program assists children younger than 3 who have developmental disabilities with physical, occupational and speech therapies, vision assistance and support for social and emotional needs. Research shows there is a significant opportunity to act early in life to create more successful development throughout the child’s lifetime. As a result of participation, 100 percent of the families supported by this program reported being better able to help their child develop.
Our local program professionals should be commended, and our school districts adopting full-day kindergarten should be thanked for their focus on early learning.
We can do more.
The recently released Colorado Kids’ Count 2013 data (Annie E. Casey Foundation) shows the majority of low-income 3- and 4-year-olds are not enrolled in any preschool program. Early learning and early intervention take investment to earn the personal and public benefits described earlier. United Way will keep working to nurture our smallest sprouts, so they will thrive.
Lynn Urban is president and CEO of United Way of Southwest Colorado.
