An Insider's Guide to Education for Parents

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson Inspires Children During Center Visit

KinderCare Learning Centers were honored this past Friday by a visit to Vintage KinderCare in Sacramento by Mayor Kevin Johnson, who came to highlight the benefits of early childhood education by reading “Heartprints” by P.K. Hallinan to the children.

The children and staff were thrilled with the mayor’s visit and presented him with two special gifts. The first was a framed drawing by one of the school-agers of Mayor Johnson next to the State Capital building. The second was a scrapbook of pictures drawn by the children featuring important milestones in the mayor’s life.

The center was well-prepared for the mayor’s visit thanks to the wonderful center director, Arlene Garcia and her talented teachers with the support of district managers, Kelly Wagman and Michelle Duffy and their teams. The Vintage center is a great reflection of KinderCare’s focus on providing a caring, nurturing, academically rich environment that ensures that all children start school ready to learn and succeed. It is a true beacon of light in the community, with a nearly 20 year tradition of providing outstanding service to children and families, reflecting the wonderful cultural and economic diversity of children in the Sacramento area.

Mayor Johnson tells the children his story.

In addition to reading to the children, Mayor Johnson used his time with them to encourage them to aspire to go to college and, ultimately, to give back to their communities. Mayor Johnson also used this opportunity to discuss the critical importance of early childhood education in supporting both the academic success and development of individual children as well as the unparalleled economic and societal benefits from a quality early childhood education experience.

Mayor Johnson has demonstrated a long standing commitment to the children in the Sacramento area, having grown up in the Oak Park district of the City. After retiring from a 12-year career with the Phoenix Suns in 2000, he returned to Sacramento where he served as CEO of St. HOPE, a non-profit community development corporation he had founded in 1989, which focused on revitalizing inner city communities through public education, economic development, civic leadership, and arts enrichment. In 2003 St. HOPE took over his alma mater, Sacramento High School, and transformed it into a charter school, with overwhelming improvements in test scores and college acceptance rates since that time.

Elected Mayor of Sacramento in November 2008, he convened an Education Summit this past March to bring together thought leaders from K-12 education, higher education, business, philanthropy, and government to address ways to enhance the educational opportunities for children throughout Sacramento.

In his inauguration speech Mayor Johnson labeled his inspirational “Cinderella Story,” a “Sacramento Story,” noting that it would not be complete until he returned to his roots to create opportunities for every child in the community he came from.

Similarly, I hope that each of us can commit to supporting a Cinderella Story in our own communities, by working to ensure that all children, regardless of economic, social, ethnic or demographic background, have an opportunity to fulfill their dreams and, in turn, make a positive difference in the world.

To achieve this vision, children must be respected as unique individuals and given access to rich and engaging educational experiences at home, in centers, and in schools. The impact we make in the life of a child will pay dividends not just in our lifetime, but for generations to come. And so a legacy begins.