AGENDA DATE: 2/3/2016
TITLE:
Title
Charlottesville - Albemarle Early Education Task Force Status Report
BODY
SUBJECT/PROPOSAL/REQUEST: Update on the activity of the Charlottesville - Albemarle Early Education Task Force
ITEM TYPE: Consent Information Item
STAFF CONTACT(S): Doug Walker
PRESENTER (S): N/A
LEGAL REVIEW: No
REVIEWED BY: Thomas C. Foley
BACKGROUND: On April 23, 2015, the United Way and Charlottesville Tomorrow co-hosted a summit focused on pre-Kindergarten needs in the region and in the Charlottesville and Albemarle communities specifically. With participation of approximately 80 community members representing businesses, non-profits, local schools and local governments, the summit concluded with a stated interest in undertaking work to address the current gap between the number of at-risk four-year olds currently receiving pre-K services in the City and County and those who would be eligible for pre-K but are not currently being served. This gap, estimated at about 250 to 300 children in the two localities combined, highlights the fact that current programs are not serving all at-risk children
In response to the interest expressed by participants at the Pre-K Summit, the local United Way initiated a community-based effort to bring together a broad cross-section of stakeholder representatives from the City and County to actively pursue a vision for the community to provide access to high quality early education programs for every at-risk child. The United Way drafted a summary work plan, including a stated purpose and vision, and the identification of specific outcomes as indicators of near-term success. Given that the intent of this effort is to compliment the investments already being made by the two localities, it is expected that primary focus on options and opportunities to close the identified pre-K gap will be on approaches not currently used and/or not fully utilized, such as available Virginia Pre-scho...
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