Investing in Early Childhood Programs for Parents and Young Children: Why This Matters for You and Your Whole Community
Summary: <a href="https://waytogrow.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a>People across the political spectrum find common ground in advocating for investing in early childhood programs to make sure children in our communities are ready to thrive and succeed in school. But how early should those programs start? To what extent should parents be actively involved? And what return on investment can we really expect, assuming programs follow best practices?<br> <br> <br> <br> University of Minnesota economist <a href="https://www.hhh.umn.edu/directory/art-rolnick" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dr. Art Rolnick</a> and Executive Director of <a href="https://waytogrow.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Way to Grow</a>, <a href="https://waytogrow.org/about-us/#team" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Carolyn Smallwood</a>, join forces in this Mom Enough discussion to address those questions and to highlight the importance of building strong, culturally relevant partnerships with parents even before their baby is born. (Way to Grow is a supporting partner of Mom Enough.)<br> <br> <br> <br> What are some of the longterm benefits of effective programs for parents and very young children? How would those results benefit your whole community and, in specific, affect the quality of your own life, now and later? What did Art Rolnick say about the financial return on investment (ROI) for investing in early childhood programs and how do you think that ROI compares to other public investments in our communities?<br> <br> <br> <br> For Is Your Young Child On Track to Succeed in School?, <a href="http://momenough.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/School-Readiness-Success.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a>.<br> <br> For Art's Invest Now or Pay More Later ME show, <a href="http://momenough.com/2014/01/invest-now-or-pay-more-later-a-conversation-about-early-childhood-with-economist-dr-art-rolnick" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a>.<br> <br> For Way to Grow, <a href="https://waytogrow.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a>.<br> <br> For Help Me Grow, <a href="http://helpmegrowmn.org/?utm_source=momenough.com&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=250x300&utm_campaign=Mom%20Enough" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a>.<br> <br> For MinneMinds, <a href="http://minneminds.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a>.
