Entries For: 2009

Thank you for being a great champion for early learning. We, at the Foundation, wish you and your family a happy holiday season!

Warm regards,
Vaughnetta J. Barton, Executive Director

Foundation for Early Learning

Foundation for Early Learning is delighted to feature a guest blog post from Early Learning Public Library Partnership member Jonalyn Woolf-Ivory from Sno-Isle Regional Libraries. If you are interested in being featured in the Foundation's blog, please contact Joel Ballezza, Communications Manager at joel@earlylearning.org.

My 2-1/2-year old grandson Ari loves going to the library, especially library story times. For my daughter and I, the trips to the library are building a literacy foundation for him that will carry him through his lifetime. For him, it’s an adventure, singing some songs, making new friends, and reading a book.

For Ari, and other preschoolers, learning begins long before kindergarten. It begins at home, reading a book before bedtime.  This begins at the park, giving names to objects and building a vocabulary. It begins at the library, connecting the words, the images, and rhythm of language through books. As parents and caregivers, we are our children’s first teachers, even in the simplest shared activities.

At Sno-Isle Libraries we launched a learning initiative for young children and their parents and caregivers.  Ready Readers is designed to enhance literacy and language development for children before they enter school.

Ready Readers – which is a combination of books and activities for children and skill-building for adults—focuses on six core skills and what parents and caregivers can do to bring these skills to life for young children:

• Tell Stories – tell stories together, encourage pretend play, and let the child be the storyteller
• Know Letters--  help your child identify the first letter in his or her name, and then find it in other places like books, signs, labels
• Use Books – the tactile discovery of books and pages; touching books
  Learn New Words – connect specific names to everyday items
• Learn New Words – connect specific names to everyday items
• Play With Sounds – sing songs, play games, share rhymes to help your child begin to recognize sounds
• Love Books – find books that speak to your child’s interests and share them often

At our web site you can find recommended books for your child and books for you, or you can visit your local library. Please join Ari and me at the library.

On Wednesday, December 9, 2009 Washington Governor Chris Gregoire released her “all-cuts” state budget. We knew it would be grim, as the state budget is projected to be at a $2.6 billion deficit. The early learning world was bracing for cuts, but hoping for the best.

As early learning advocates we had been spreading the message of “protect early learning.” Our partners at the Children’s Alliance mobilized a campaign and had over 600 messages sent to the governor telling her to protect early learning.

Early learning advocates aren’t naïve, we knew that the State needed to balance the budget, but we also understood the reality that babies and children can’t wait. We can’t tell a baby “Please stop learning and growing until the economy recovers.” We were hopeful that early learning would be spared, but unfortunately it wasn’t.

Below is a short list of the proposed cuts to early learning, it is compiled by the Washington State Office of Financial Management and notes from the Early Learning Action Alliance:

• Eliminate state funding for the Career and Wage Ladder, a pilot program that provides wage incentives for child care providers to advance their professional development.  ($1.5 million)
• Eliminate state funding for the Child Care Resource and Referral Network, which will continue to receive federal funding to operate local referral hot lines and provide training.  ($425,000)
• Maternity support for more than 50,000 high-risk pregnant women.  ($28 million)
• All day kindergarten for students living in poverty. ($33.6 million)
• Children’s health care (the Apple Health Care program), for 16,000 low-income kids.  ($11.6 million)
• Eliminating funding for 3 year-olds from the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP) ($10.5 mil) ECEAP is a comprehensive “whole child”, family-focused preschool program designed to help low-income and at-risk children and families succeed in school and life.
• Working Connections Child Care (helps families pay for child care) Reduced from 3,800 cases per month to 1,400 cases per month, 63.2% reduction. ($88.5 million)
• Elimination of Council for Children and Families, which supports child abuse and neglect prevention programs.

Many of us understand that the budget needs to be balanced and hard decisions need to be made. There isn’t a ‘silver bullet’ that will solve all of the state’s budget problems. But these cuts will impact our youngest residents the most. As my in-laws wrote in their note to the Governor:

There should be no higher priorities than ensuring the best possible health and learning opportunities for our youngest Washingtonians. Please put early childhood health and education first on your "must have" list.

Our household is more than willing to support whatever strategies are necessary to ensure protection for the well-being of our youngest.  Our future, really.
 
Thank you.
Donald & Lina H.
Poulsbo

The red flag has been raised. Talk to your neighbors, family, friends, legislators, and the Governor, about what early learning means to you. Tell them that children can’t wait. Waiting for the economy to recover isn’t an option. As the Governor moves forward let her know that preserving the investments made in early learning is something you care about. Repeating the words of my father-in-law: “There should be no higher priority than ensuring the best possible health and learning opportunities for our youngest Washingtonians.”

Foundation for Early Learning is delighted to feature a guest blog post from early learning supporter Daniel Lieberman. If you are interested in being featured in the Foundation's blog, please contact Joel Ballezza, Communications Manager at joel@earlylearning.org.

Becoming a father has made me think about a lot of things that never crossed my mind before. I never thought I would make up a song called “Put Your Jammies On” and my daughter would learn to sing it nightly with gusto. I also never gave much thought to how important early childhood education is in shaping who we become. 

Every day I’m amazed and amused by my three-year-old daughter, Paloma. She’s learning so much and growing so fast. And I know the same will be true of my son (we’re expecting in January). It reminds me that as grown-ups, we owe every child the opportunity to fully develop their own spirit and talents. 

My family and I are very fortunate. Our daughter is able to attend a wonderful preschool with teachers and programs that I greatly admire. At the same time, I’m keenly aware that not every family has the same opportunities as mine. For families struggling to afford food and shelter, preschool can be out of reach.

That’s why I support Foundation for Early Learning. I know that my donations are helping families in need prepare their children for school. Our kids and our grandkids will grow-up to create a better society because of the education we provide them. It’s the bedrock of a hopeful future for all of us.

That’s why I give. I hope you will too.

Donate Today!

What is happening to kids in our state now will shape the rest of their lives. Our youngest kids can't wait until after the recession to grow up. Governor Gregoire is making budget decisions right now.

Send her a message and urge her to protect our progress on early learning in Washington State. Foundation for Early Learning in conjunction with The Early Learning Action Alliance (ELAA), is participating in an ambitious campaign to stop cuts to early learning before they happen.

Together with the more than 40 organizations, we're sending 5,000 messages to Governor Gregoire urging her to protect early learning opportunities for kids. Hundreds of postcards are already on their way. Business leaders and law enforcement professionals all over the state are gathering signatures on letters of support.

Join in. Send a message, now!