Entries For: November 2010

Can you give $10, $25 or $50 to help ensure children like William are prepared on his first day of kindergarten?

Did you know that only 50% of children in Washington state start school prepared? That means that the other half of children are already behind in school on their very first day.

Take 5-year-old William as an example. He started his first day of kindergarten unprepared. He had never held a pencil or colored with a crayon. His parents rarely read books to him. He spent most of his early years in front of a TV.

Because of this, William struggles to read and to keep up with his kindergarten classmates. Research shows that children who start behind, stay behind.

But this does not have to be William's future—with your help, Foundation for Early Learning can ensure that quality early education programs are available for children just like William.

Help us reach our goal of raising $50,000 by December 31, 2010. Donors have already committed over $16,000. Use the form below or click here to donate $10, $25 or $50!

Have a warm Thanksgiving.  Thank you for your support!

Vaughnetta J. Barton, Executive Director
Foundation for Early Learning

The Head Start Program, started under Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, provides education, nutrition, health and parent involvement services to impoverished children.  Head Start, created by Mr. Sugarman, currently has an $8 billion budget and serves over 900,000 children around the United States. The program’s effects are deep and continue to be felt in today’s community of homeless and low income families around the country.  Read the New York Times story on Mr. Sugarman below.

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Jule Sugarman, a primary architect of Head Start, the federal support program for millions of poor preschoolers, died Tuesday at his home in Seattle. He was 83.

The cause was cancer, his wife, Candace Sullivan, said.

Mr. Sugarman, who also ran the program for most of its first five years, was executive secretary of the 13-member commission that planned Head Start in 1964 after President Lyndon B. Johnson declared his War on Poverty...