Did you know that for every dollar invested in high-quality early care and education, there is a return between $4 and $16? Did you know that nearly 70 percent of Scott County children of working parents are in unregistered care with no quality monitoring? Did you know that 90 percent of brain development occurs by age five? It is crucial for the Scott County community to have awareness on the critical issues of early childhood care and education, and to support efforts to solve the issues that arise from a child care shortage and lack of preschool education.
Scott County Community Foundation (“SCCF”) invites the community to attend a presentation on high-quality early care and education for Scott County on Tuesday, Aug. 27 at noon in the banquet hall at Mid-America Science Park. Lunch will be provided at no cost, but reservations are required. Dr. Melissa Fry with the Indiana University Southeast Applied Research and Education Center will present findings from a strategic plan developed by her team and the SCCF Early Childhood Committee.
Through a community leadership planning grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., Dr. Fry conducted several listening sessions with focus groups this past spring. These included those who work in education, employers, elected officials, early childhood workers and directors, youth-serving organizations, and parents of young children. The goal of the plan is to provide action steps to ensure that every child in Scott County receives high-quality, safe, and developmentally appropriate care from birth to age five. Community support is not only desired, but crucial as the SCCF Early Childhood Committee implements strategies from the plan.
If you are interested in attending this informative lunch, please respond by Aug. 20. You may call 812-752-2057 or email info@scottcountyfoundation.org. If you are unable to attend this presentation, there will be several presentations made to both public school district boards, Austin and Scottsburg City Councils, and the County Commissioners. For a schedule of those presentations, please contact SCCF Executive Director Jaime Toppe at the phone or email listed above. In addition, you can find the full strategic plan at the Community Foundation’s website, www.scottcountyfoundation.org under the Community Initiatives menu and Community Plans sub-menu.
