Investing in Kids is Economic Development Young Children Priority One and Partnership for America’s Economic Success Robert Dugger, Advisory Board Chair, PAES Sara Watson, Director, PAES/Senior Officer, Pew Center on the States Wil Blechman, Past President, Kiwanis International /

Why should business care? Youth human capital is one of the highest-return economic development strategy there is. The economic returns for pre-k for disadvantaged kids are over 10% per year..! (Minneapolis Fed) Youth human capital sector is big..! And if we don’t raise and educate kids right, it really doesn’t matter what else we do. (Invest in Kids Working Group) If we want it done right, business has to be involved to make sure the Telluride Principles are followed. (Telluride Summit)

Painful facts  Intensifying global competition and steadily growing fiscal imbalances mean we have to focus on the future, the next generation and our kids have to do well.  20% of workers are functionally illiterate; we need children to become adults who are book-smart, team-capable and job- ready.  Many (not all) traits that make good employees, neighbors and citizens begin in the first 5 years of life. Infant brain forms 700 neural connections per second, reaching 85% of its adult weight in the first 5 years.  Bottom line: Need policy change -- in addition to great actions by individuals and companies. Business has to be involved..!

Partnership for America’s Economic Success A collaboration of individual business leaders, business organizations, economists, funders and policy activists. 13 funders, including Pew. Goal: Make the life success of every child in America the top economic priority of the United States Strategies: Document economic benefits of proven investments in children prenatal to five Support business leaders as champions for effective early childhood policies and use of evidence/ROI in decisionmaking Build a network of business organizations to educate and engage their members Managed by the Pew Center on the States

Telluride Principles For all state and national policies and programs -- 1.The first priority should be the lifetime success of every child. 2.Parents, families and other caregivers should be directly involved. 3.Resources should be allocated on the basis of best evidence and proven practices. 4.Projects should have quantified goals and be performance evaluated. 5.Projects should be scalable and make best use of private and public incentives.

Why we need business champions – the big squeeze

Is the next generation’s success our top priority now? How does Investment in Children Compare? (Measurements from )

Personal Saving Rate has Declined Big problem in the US – but not only the US Source: GAO analysis of data from the Office of the Chief Actuary, Social Security Administration. Note: Percentage change is calculated as a centered 5-yr moving average of projections based on the intermediate assumptions of the 2008 Trustees Reports. Source: GAO analysis of Bureau of Economic Analysis data. Labor Force is Declining Education: USA ranks 26 th out of 32 countries on PISA 2006 Math scores

Why should business care? Today’s Youngest Kids are Tomorrow’s Employees and Customers Scan of three-year- old brain after severe neglect Scan of normal three-year-old brain

If 50 first graders have problems reading, then 44 of them still have problems reading in fourth grade ( Journal of Educational Psychology ) First Graders Fourth Graders

What do we already know? Economic Returns for Disadvantaged Children (2002 dollars, 3% discount rate) Cost Benefits B/C Perry Pre-K (3-4 year olds) $15,386 $262, Chicago Child Par. Ctr (3-4) $ 7,384$ 74, Abecedarian (0-5) $35,864$130, Nurse Family Prtnrshp. (0-2) $ 9,118$ 26,

Abecedarian : Academic Benefits Barnett, W. S., & Masse, L. N. (2007). Early childhood program design and economic returns: Comparative benefit-cost analysis of the Abecedarian program and policy implications, Economics of Education Review, 26, ; Campbell, F.A., Ramey, C.T., Pungello, E., Sparling, J., & Miller-Johnson, S. ( 2002). Early childhood education: Young adult outcomes from the Abecedarian Project. Applied Developmental Science, 6(1), Abecedarian (0-5 early care and parenting support)

Economic Impacts of Other Aspects of Early Childhood Birth Outcomes (Johnson, U. of CA and Schoeni, U. of MI) Being born low weight: ages you by 12 years in middle age, increases the odds of dropping out of high school by 5 percentage points, lowers achievement scores, lowers labor force participation by 5 percentage points, and reduces labor market earnings by 14% Housing (Haveman, Wolfe and Spaulding, U. of WI) Moving at least 3 times between the ages of 4 and 7 is associated with a 19% decrease in high school graduation. Family Income (Duncan, Northwestern University) Raising family income to % of poverty during ages 0-6 pays for itself, on average, in terms of the child’s earnings and use of benefits as an adult

Business Support for Pre-K and Early Childhood Chambers of Commerce MaineLos AngelesKansas City MemphisSan Francisco Houston NashvilleOaklandBrownsville, TX RichmondFairfax, VACalhoun County, AL National Association of Manufacturers 2008 Public Policy Positions: “Access to high quality early education and learning opportunities is integral to helping today’s children prepare for the highly competitive, fast-paced global economy.” Federal Reserve Banks: Chairman Bernanke, as well as leaders in Minneapolis, Richmond, Atlanta, Cleveland, San Francisco

Other Examples of Business Leadership Pennsylvania: Many leaders -- PNC CEO James Rohr and other PNC executives; Phil Peterson, Aon Consulting; members of Early Investment Commission Massachusetts: Strategies for Children campaign business leaders: Mara Aspinall, CEO of Genzyme Genetics; Ronald Sargeant, CEO of Staples; Richard Lord, CEO of Associated Industries of Mass. Louisiana: Blueprint LA, Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, Louisiana Industrial Development Executives Assn. Arizona: Ed and Nadine Basha, of Basha’s Grocery Stores, led successful fight for ballot initiative to fund 0-5 services

The message is getting through…

What business can do with help from YCPO and PAES Support YCPO programs Connect with advocates to know what the state agenda is Build early childhood into the state Kiwanis agenda Collaborate with other clubs Make your voice heard – Op-eds, letters to editors, blogs, talk radio Tell your colleagues – presentations at business events on investments in children as an economic strategy

What business can do with help from YCPO and PAES Encourage business groups to make a public statement Participate in media/public events Invite early childhood businesses to join civic organizations – they are part of the economy too Talk to policymakers and candidates (on a nonpartisan basis) – find out if any are Kiwanians Attend or apply to join early childhood advisory bodies to share business perspective Pennsylvania example

PAES’ job is to make your job easier Support education of Kiwanis members through:  National conference of business peers – Telluride Economic Summit on Early Childhood Investment, Sept  National forum to train diverse audiences on engaging business, early 2010  Connect you to 17 state business leader summits sponsored by PAES  Provide speakers for events  Advocacy/communications tools on our website Many other ideas at – call on uswww.PartnershipforSuccess.org

Bottom line We are organizing a national movement to engage business leaders as champions for policy change to help young children become successful adults. It’s not only the morally right thing to do, it’s the fiscally prudent thing to do. We hope you will join us.