Creating positive lasting change in a community requires awareness, education and community action, and a lot of different people working together. Business leaders can be critical in making change happen. Top business leaders are influencers in a community and lend credibility to the issues they support.
Born Learning has created a "toolkit" to help individuals and community organizations make the case about the importance of early learning to business leaders. This toolkit includes:
Why Early Learning Matters (presentation) - This PowerPoint presentation is a basic shell that includes talking points on how early learning is critical to a strong economy and why it makes sense to invest in early childhood education.
Why Early Learning Matters (brochure) - This brochure provides the key points that link early learning with success in school and a strong economy.
Champion Action Tips - Often business leaders want to get involved and become champions for early learning, but they're not sure where to start. These tips offer suggestions for specific action steps that can help raise visibility, build public will, and influence public policy.
- Birth to Five Policy Alliance Resource Library - This is a collection of the most useful early learning advocacy tools from the nation's top organizations focused on school readiness. It includes resources from the National Governor's Association, Fight Crime Invest in Kids, National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, and others. The Birth to Five Policy Alliance, which includes United Way of America, is a group of national organizations working together to boost school readiness and improve early learning opportunities for young children. It is supported by the Buffett Early Childhood Fund and the Gates Foundation.
Whether or not you support the old African adage that "it takes a village to raise a child," we undeniably live in a highly connected world, and the "village" does impact our children. We each have the ability to choose to work together and bring about profound and lasting change.
Did you know that, according to a popular social network theory, we are only six steps away from anyone on this planet, whether it's your favorite movie star, a child who needs your help, or an influential legislator? Keep that in mind as you consider your personal and professional networks and how you might help support young children and their families.
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