The Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana has received a $100,000 grant from the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to pilot new strategies to increase access to and improve the quality of publicly funded early childhood care and education. It is one of six communities across the state selected to guide this work.
The six communities, called Ready Start Networks, will spend the next two years developing new local governance structures; assessing local demand for early care and education; providing resources and training to teachers to improve classroom quality; implementing fundraising strategies; and sharing their findings with state leaders to inform future policymaking.
In Morehouse and Richland parishes the Children’s Coalition for Northeast Louisiana will do this by building upon the foundation of the existing early childhood community networks in Morehouse and Richland parishes which are made up of publicly funded early care and education programs. We will invite additional early childhood stakeholders such as parents, business and community leaders from each community to work together to find creative solutions that will improve quality and access to early care and education.
"We are honored to be selected as a Ready Start Network for both Richland and Morehouse parishes. We know that learning doesn't start at age four, in fact learning starts at birth. If we wait to provide early learning opportunities until preschool or kindergarten, we have waited too long because ninety percent of brain development occurs before age four. Therefore, it is essential that we provide quality learning experiences for development occurs before age four. Therefore, it is essential that we provide quality learning experiences for infants and toddlers too. We are excited to get communities working together to increase opportunities for our youngest learners to thrive and arrive to school ready to start."