Take Action: Support Early Childhood Education For Our Most At-Risk Children

This week, a very important Early Learning Challenge Grant Fund comes before the U.S. House of Representatives. The Early Learning Challenge Fund is a competitive grant program created to assist states in increasing the quality of early learning opportunities for disadvantaged children from birth to age five.

The Early Learning Challenge Fund will provide $1 billion in grants to state programs each year, for eight years. It is included as part of a larger education bill, H.R. 3221 authored by House Education Committee Chairman George Miller of California and supported by President Obama, who has made investing in early childhood education a priority in his administration.

This is extremely important funding as it will increase the quality of early care and education provided to our most at-risk children, while keeping program development at the state and local level. If passed, it will benefit children in communities throughout the United States.

How can you help? As a parent, I encourage you to send letters to your Representatives asking them to vote in favor of this Early Learning Challenge Grant Fund. Use the letter template below and email today. You can find their names and contact information at: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/ Your support today will make the difference to thousands of children in the coming years in preparing them for a lifetime of learning.

Click here to email to your local representative directly.

Dear (Insert name of your Representative):

On behalf of the children in your district, I encourage you to vote in favor of H.R. 3221 when it comes before the House of Representatives. As you are aware, Title IV of H.R. 3221, creates an Early Learning Challenge Fund to provide grants to the states to increase the quality of Early Childhood Education (ECE).

Economists from Nobel Laureate James Heckman to Art Rolnick, Chief Economist of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve, have demonstrated that there is no higher return on investment in education than the return gained by investing in high quality Early Childhood Education.  The Early Learning Challenge Fund included in H.R. 3221 will give the states the ability to create high quality ECE programs for children from birth to age five, and will focus federal funds on the children who benefit the most from high quality ECE – children from disadvantaged families.  By investing in early childhood today, we make children better prepared for kindergarten and elementary school, reduce long-term dropout rates, teen pregnancy, and crime, and increase long-term earnings and GNP.

The Early Learning Challenge Fund will allow early childhood education and care providers to significantly increase the number of young children who receive a high quality early childhood education, while keeping program development at the state and local level.  By leveraging resources from federal, state, and local governments, as well as the private sector, it also ensures maximum return for our investment.

Please support the thousands of children in your congressional district who will benefit from a high quality early childhood education by voting for H.R. 3221 and the Early Learning Challenge Fund.

Sincerely,

_________

1 Comment

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  By Samuel W. Kirk, MBA, October 6, 2009 @ 3:25 pm

  To be successful in recieving this funding, the Early Education field in California will become more coordinated and aligned with national standards. This will also eventually result in progress around other issues, such as workforce development, affordability and access as program standards assist with quality of programs.

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