Our strategic passion
Impacting
Early Childhood
Education
We believe that the love of learning develops early in life and builds the foundation for educational success in the future. This is why investments in early childhood programs have the greatest returns. We are focused on equipping parents and early childhood educators with the tools needed to help all children reach their full educational potential. We provide support to early childhood programs through our strategic partners Metro United Way, the Ready4K Alliance and Community Coordinated Child Care (4-C) in Louisville, Ky.
Community Coordinated Child care (4-C) and Greater Louisville HEadstart
Our journey began ten years ago with the establishment of the Excellence Academy at many childcare centers historically supported by Metro United Way. The Excellence Academy was a professional development program for child care workers that equiped them with the skills to implement play-based “Reggio Emilia” approaches to learning in the classroom. Data consistently shows that children who attend Excellence Academy childcare centers were 2X as likely to be ready for kindergarten compared to demographically similar children who did not attend Excellence Academy centers. The program included Communites of Practice and salary enhancements as an innovative approach to professional and educational development for childcare workers.
In 2019 the Excellence Academy program became the basis for 4-C and Family and Children’s Place application for federal Head Start Funding and was awarded a $5 MM annual Head Start grant and Greater Louisville Headstart was born. Early Head Start is designed for income-eligible children from birth through age 3, with families choosing between daily programs at learning centers around Louisville or weekly home visits. Head Start is designed for income-eligible children from ages 3 to 5 and is offered only at learning centers. Both Early Head Start and Head Start are inclusive of children and families with disabilities and/or special needs. The Lift a Life Novak Family Foundation supports the program through facility enhancements and support for the communities of practice programing.
The ready for K Alliance and Metro United Way
The Ready for K Alliance in partnership with Metro United Way is developing collaborative networks of early care and education providers, partners and other key stakeholders to provide a seamless system of support for children ages birth to kindergarten entry via evidence-based best practices in the areas of access, quality, engagement and transitioning into kindergarten. Learn more here.
It encompasses more than 100 partners and organizations, united by their aspiration to have all children enter kindergarten prepared to experience success. Improved educational attainment is a key driver of economic development and a ready 21st-century workforce. Their focus is coordinating and aligning efforts around kindergarten readiness critical to the community as a whole, because children who enter school ready to learn, are more likely to be successful readers by the end of third grade and complete high school ready for college and career, will ultimately lead more productive, stable and healthy lives. Learn more here.
Did You Know?
1 million
new neural connections are formed every second in a baby’s brain for the first few years of life. These connections build the foundation upon which all later learning, behavior, and health depend.
Differences in children’s cognitive abilities are evident as early as 9 months old and significantly widen by the time children are age 2.
49% of 3-year-olds and 86% of 4-year-olds
are enrolled in a public preschool setting. Many states publicly fund preschool programs.
$9.60 for every $1
is society's return on investment for expanding early learning programs.
$14,820
is the average annual cost at a childcare center in Kentucky for an infant and a 4-year-old. This is 28% of the median income for families with children.
17% of 3-year-olds and 40% of 4-year-olds
are enrolled in a public preschool program in Kentucky.
More than 2.5 million
4-year-olds don't have access to publicly funded preschool programs.
Children from low-income families who don’t participate in preschool programs start kindergarten 12 to 14 months behind their peers in pre-literacy and language skills.
Children who aren’t reading by third grade are more likely to drop out before graduating high school and, by extension, more likely to spend time in prison.
68%
of all males in state and federal prison lack a high school diploma.
Children from the poorest families hear approximately 30 million fewer words than those from more affluent families by age 3.
The greater the number of words children heard from their parents or caregivers before they were 3, the higher their IQ and the better they did in school.
600 words
are heard per hour by children whose families were on welfare.
1,200 words
are heard per hour by children from working class families.
2,100 words
are heard per hour by children from professional families.
By age 3, children with college-educated parents or primary caregivers had vocabularies
2 to 3 times larger
than those whose parents had not completed high school.
$25.1K
is the 2022 Federal Poverty Line for a family of 4.
$24.5K
is the the median annual salary for a Child Care Worker as of January 2018.
Sources:
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/early-childhood/reports/2017/07/20/436169/early-learning-united-states-2017/ https://cdn.americanprogress.org/content/uploads/2017/07/19100900/2017ECFS_KY1.pdf http://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/importance-of-early-childhood-education/ https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/the-power-of-talking-to-your-baby/?_r=1 https://www2.ed.gov/documents/early-learning/matter-equity-preschool-america.pdf
https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/five-numbers-to-remember-about-early-childhood-development/ https://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty-guidelines