Fiscal Note
No appropriation required.
Title
Directing Community Development Division staff to work with representatives from Dane County, the Madison Metropolitan School District, United Way and other community organizations as appropriate to develop collaborative strategies that take advantage of available resources to better prepare children for entry into our educational systems.
Body
WHEREAS, the first three years of a child's life are known to be critical to healthy brain development; and research demonstrates that the social, emotional and cognitive environments of a child during those early years have a significant biological impact on his or her brain development and;
WHEREAS, research has also shown that children who are not prepared to enter kindergarten are likely to have a difficult time in subsequent years catching up with their peers and;
WHEREAS, a variety of factors including such things as poverty, unemployment, the lack of accessible quality childcare and stable housing affect a family's ability to support a child's growth and development and;
WHEREAS, early childhood care and education provide support to help ensure that children are better prepared for kindergarten and more likely to have success throughout their educational experiences and;
WHEREAS, while a wide variety of efforts are currently underway in our community to provide early childhood education and care and to offer support to families, in many cases, these efforts operate in isolation from one another and;
WHEREAS, initiatives such as the Dane County Early Childhood Initiative have been successful in addressing the needs of the whole family through an approach that coordinates the provision of home visits, parent education, child development resources and basic needs support;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Common Council directs staff from the Community Development Division to work with representatives from Dane County, Madison Metropolitan School District, United Way and other community organizations to build upon collaborative models such as that reflected in the Early Childhood Initiative and develop strategies to support families with young children in ways that make it more likely that those children will meet developmental milestones and enter school ready to learn.