Raising Las Vegas: Expanding Access to Early Childhood Education

The evidence is in. Early childhood education and parent engagement in the early years are key factors to children’s success in school and life.

• Between 0 and 5 years of age, children gain the most important functions for learning…attention, focus, making connections, bonding with adults, and following their curiosity.
• Academic achievement gaps are virtually eliminated when children enter Kindergarten with developed emotional, social, and cognitive learning skills.
• Learning to read by 3^rd grade is the key to reading to learn throughout school and life.
• Parent engagement in the child’s early years accelerates the growth of the learner.

In an effort to bolster early childhood education in Southern Nevada, The Library District Foundation works with 15 community partners to connect children 0-5 with brain-building resources at branch libraries, home, and a growing variety of outreach sites including WIC clinics, childcare centers, and family nurse home visits.  The Raising Las Vegas collective action plan is grounded in a clear understanding of the local circumstances of children and families, the uniquely Vegas Valley challenges to raising our children and our communities to their full potential, and fresh thinking about how to impact these conditions. The Foundation also supports the District’s efforts to raise the quality of local childcare by training front line staff in child development and parent engagement tools and techniques.

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