Marquette-Alger Great Start Collaborative Needs Your Help

Posted by on June 29, 2011

At a recent Lake Superior Community Partnership board of directors meeting, Marquette-Alger Great Start Collaborative Director Kathy Lammi gave a presentation addressing the importance of investing, as a community, in early childhood development. 
She gave astonishing statistics that spoke volumes to me and our board members.  One that stuck with me is the fact that brain development occurs most rapidly and easily in the first 3 years of life.  By age two, we have 90% of our eventual brain weight.   Also, 85% of a child’s intellectual and social development takes place by age five. 
Research shows that for every dollar invested in early childhood programs and services, $17 is saved for tax payers in the reduction of special education expenses, teen pregnancy, welfare and social services, crime, training and retraining, and absenteeism on the job.   Early childhood investment increases graduation rates, decision making abilities, job productivity, earning capacity, financial responsibility and income taxes paid.   
The Marquette-Alger Great Start Collaborative, which is hosted through the LSCP and Marquette Alger Regional Educational Service Agency, is a partnership of community leaders, health care professionals, human service agencies, charitable and faith based organizations, teachers and parents.  Its mission is to assure a coordinated system of community resources and supports to assist all families in Marquette and Alger Counties in providing a great start for their children, from pre-birth through age five. 
The Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC) has just recently awarded the Great Start Collaborative with a grant for up to $100,000.  This grant will support one year of child care/preschool scholarships for eligible three-year-olds to access a high quality learning experience in Marquette County.  The challenge for our community is to come up with a cash match for the funds by July 31st, 2011.
The Community match will be used to help fund local needs outlined in Great Start’s Strategic Plan and Action Agenda related to:  Pediatric and Family Health, Social and Emotional Health, Parenting Leadership, Child Care and Early Education and Family Support.  
Why is it important to support this project?  Several reasons: it’s a great investment in our future workforce, the matched dollars bring tax dollars back to our community and it’s tax deductable!  Your donation will be matched by ECIC and help provide a promising future for many of our community’s young children and their families.  If we want Marquette County to have a promising future, then we must invest in our children’s future before they start kindergarten to ensure they are safe, healthy and successful in education and in life.

Why would an economic development organization be involved in this project? Part of economic development is community development, which is aimed at building a quality, safe place to live, work & play.  And, of course, children are our future, your future workforce, community leaders, etc. 
A pledge sheet can be found at www.marquette.org and on the Great Start Collaborative Web site www.greatstartma.org.  The GSC Web site also has an on-line donation option. Contact Kathy Lammi, GSC Director, at 226-5157 or klammi@maresa.org. 

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