Early education can lead to adult success.
That’s the philosophy as early childhood education leaders across Texas are gathering in Fort Worth Wednesday and Thursday, April 25-26.
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price reached out to the mayors of the 20 largest cities in Texas to send five-member teams of leaders to convene in Fort Worth to help scale the impact and reach of early education in Texas. In all, 200 invited guests and presenters are meeting at the Sheraton Fort Worth Downtown for Momentum 2018: Texas City Early Learning Summit.
Price, with Kara Waddell, CEO of Child Care Associates; Lisa Witkowski, director of Child Care for Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County; and Libby Doggett, former deputy assistant secretary of policy and early learning, U.S. Department of Education from Austin; will work with leaders in the early childhood community to advance outcomes for children ages 0-5. They will roll up their sleeves to learn, share best practices and help accelerate coordinated city approaches to accelerate strong outcomes for young children.
“Investing in early childhood education should be a top priority for every city in America,” Price said. “When we invest in children at a young age, we lower the cost of downstream interventions and help families put their children on a trajectory to success.
“I’m excited to convene the state’s best and brightest early learning professionals right here in Fort Worth as we tackle the challenges facing early education.”
The event also brings together invited guests from school districts, municipal leaders, nonprofits, philanthropists, state agency leaders and national guests. The 20 Texas cities attending this year’s city summit collectively represent more than 740,000 children under age 5.
Child Care Associates helped to envision Momentum 2018 as part of its 50th anniversary of serving young children in Tarrant County.
“Child Care Associates has always been committed to serving young children and families at scale. We could think of no better way to celebrate our anniversary than increasing the scale of impact that Texas cities are having with infants, toddlers and preschoolers,” said Waddel. “Everyone had the same response – let’s get it done!”
Child Care Associates is the largest child development nonprofit in North Texas and has served over 570,000 young children in the past fifty years.
Doggett noted that one in 10 children in the U.S. today live in Texas. She said cities in the state aren’t waiting for action from the federal or state governments to assure all these children enter kindergarten ready to succeed.
“Local communities are innovating with new and better ways to secure strong outcomes for Texas children, tomorrow’s workforce,” Doggett said. “If Texas cities prepare these children for kindergarten we can changes our state and the country. Momentum 2018 is all about connecting city innovators.”