What happens during a child’s first five years has a life-long impact. That’s when a child’s brain is at its most flexible, making it the most critical time period for growth and learning. High-quality early childhood care and education provide children with the strong foundation they need to thrive.
Components of an early childhood system include access, affordability, quality, and workforce. Early childhood care and education occurs in a range of settings: child care centers, child care family homes, Head Start, Early Head Start, early intervention day treatment, public schools, faith-based providers, and other community-based organizations. Research shows effective pre-k programs can have a lasting and positive impact on academic and social-emotional outcomes, including improved kindergarten readiness, third grade reading and math scores, graduation rates, and higher educational attainment.
Child care is infrastructure and necessary for our state’s economy, but early childhood care and education is inaccessible and unaffordable for many families. The system is heavily underinvested. Beyond a federal match and maintenance of effort required to pull down federal dollars, Arkansas does not invest in child care. When adjusted for inflation, the $106.5 million state investment in Arkansas Better Chance, what has historically been referred to as the state’s pre-k program, has declined in purchasing power in the past eight years.
Join us in the fight for children’s rights and family support. Your involvement can help shape a better future for our community.
