For over 100 years Saint Vincent’s Day Home has been providing quality, innovative early childhood education programs to the children of the working poor. We have always believed that a quality start in life means that each child will have every opportunity to reach his or her potential and experience the success that leads one out of poverty into a promising future.
Are We Crazy About Our Kids? is the third episode from the series The Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation.
Are We Crazy About Our Kids? Is a short film that demonstrates, in studies done by a Federal Reserve economist and a Nobel laureate among others, that high quality early care and pre-school yield huge individual and public benefits. Research shows that poverty is linked to a number of negative outcomes for children. They are 25% more likely to drop out of school, 40% more likely to become a teen parent, 50% more likely to be placed in special education, 60% more likely never to attend college and 70% more likely to be arrested for violent crimes.
Investing in early childhood education programs, however, pays dividends. Society sees a return of $7 for $1 spent. Costs to our public school system drop significantly and children who have participated in quality early childhood education programs are less likely to repeat grades or be assigned to expensive special education programs. Decreased crime rates translate to less expense for a justice system. Children who experienced a quality Early Childhood program become employed, pay taxes and avoid government welfare programs.
Sadly, quality programs like those offered a Saint Vincent’s Day Home are largely unaffordable for the very people who need it most. The Day Home continues to struggle with the challenges of funding cutbacks by the state to educational programs, but won’t allow the cutbacks to compromise our quality. We are more determined than ever to maintain our mission: To provide quality care, early childhood education and family services to those in greatest need ensuring that children are nurtured and educated and their parents empowered to meet family responsibilities.
Any support you can give to the Day Home, other quality providers, as well as make your voice heard that our children should be our top priority in Sacramento and in Washington D.C.