On October 15, 2008, The Women’s Foundation held a Community Briefing on the importance of early care and education.
Craig Pascal, Senior Vice President/Territory Manager, Community Development Bank at PNC and Tobi Printz-Platnick, Program Officer, Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, made a strong case for increased investments in early care and education.
The expert panelists presented compelling research and echoed the importance of increased investments.
Our parent advocate shared from her personal experiences the challenges she confronts on a daily basis of accessing quality care for her son with disabilities.
As we learned at the Community Briefing, strategic funds invested in strong organizations can significantly improve the quality of, and expansion of increased access to, developmentally appropriate care for children from birth through five years old.
"During this economic downturn, it is critically important to invest in a proven strategy to support our future workforce. Investments in young children are sound investments," stated Craig Pascal, Senior Vice President/Territory Manager, Community Development Banking, PNC Bank. "There is no better time than now to invest in the future success of young children to ensure they are prepared for schools and life."
To help foster increased access to and quality of early care and education in our region, The Women’s Foundation has released a Request for Proposals for Access and Quality Grants, seeking to invest in organizations committed to implementing effective strategies that can promote, ensure and sustain opportunities to expand access and improve the quality of services for low-income families and their young children by promoting systems reform. Such strategies include promoting systems reform, implementing changes in early care and education practices, and investing in public education efforts to increase the public will for early care and education.
Proposals under this RFP are due at 5 p.m. on Friday, November 21, 2008. For more information about this funding opportunity, please review the RFP guidelines.
HyeSook Chung is The Women’s Foundation’s program officer for early care and education.
