Access to quality early childhood education is finding articulate advocates in unusual places, including voices from the Federal Reserve Bank. The economic argument for investing in quality early childhood education has been soundly made by Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis researcher Art Rolnick in the working paper, A Proposal for Achieving High Returns on Early Childhood Development.
In addition, on September 24, 2007, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, Ben Bernanke, talked about the importance of investing in early childhood education in his remarks on education and economic competitiveness in a speech to business leaders at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He noted that, “ the payoff from high-quality pre-school and home visitation programs is likely very high, especially for children born into poor or otherwise disadvantaged families.”
On March 5, 2008, Jeffrey M. Lacker, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, spoke to Fairfax Futures’ business and foundation partners about the importance of investing in early childhood education. Lacker noted, “Human capital is critically important to economic growth at the state or metropolitan level. Therefore, the more skilled the workforce, the more rapidly the economy grows.” Lacker went on to say, “The close relationship between skills and growth, combined with compelling evidence that early childhood education leads to better educated, more highly-skilled adults, is what makes the case for early childhood education so strong for me.”
Washington Area Women’s Foundation President Phyllis Caldwell participated in the event. The Women’s Foundation is a strong supporter of Fairfax Futures’ efforts to engage the business community as advocates on this issue.
Vera Steiner Blore is executive director of Fairfax Futures, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.
