by Chelsea Nelson
Interactive Communications Director
Yesterday, community leaders and philanthropists were able to gather at the beautiful Zions Bank building for a very special speaker. As many of you know, a partnership was recently formed by Salt Lake County, United Way of Salt Lake, Goldman Sachs, J.B. Pritzker, Granite School District, Park City School District, and Voices for Utah Children to expand early childhood education opportunities for at-risk kids. Guests heard from David Lang and Andrea Phillips of Goldman Sachs about why Goldman Sachs chose to invest in early childhood education. We were also lucky enough to have one of these important partners, J.B. Pritzker, as the featured speaker. J.B. Pritzker shared information about results-based financing and why high-quality preschool is so important for at-risk kids.
Building a strong economy depends on improving results in education, and high-quality preschool is a key component to ensuring our children are succeeding every step of the way, from cradle to career. In many communities where United Way of Salt Lake works, as many as six out of 10 children are behind developmentally when they start kindergarten. Too many of these children are never able to catch up without interventions. These partnerships have given 600 low-income children the opportunity to attend high-quality preschool. J.B. Pritzker shared some compelling statistics in favor of high-quality preschool for at risk kids.
An at-risk student who has no early childhood education intervention and starts kindergarten behind is:
25% more likely to drop out of school
40% more likely to become a teen parent
50% more likely to be placed into special education
60% more likely to not attend college
70% more likely to be arrested for a violent crime
Thank you to J.B. Pritzker for taking the time to speak and help paint a broader picture of what this amazing partnership can do for our community! Also, thank you to everyone who took time out of their busy schedules to join us at this event. We appreciate your support of this partnership and high-quality preschool. We hope that you will support and advocate with us as the upcoming legislative session approaches.
Thank you to our sponsor, the Mark and Kathie Miller Foundation,
for making this event possible.
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