What child service organizations and agencies are working to serve you in northeast Ohio?  This directory -- as it expands -- will help you to find the services you need and also assist the various agencies in coordinating their activities on-line.  Please feel free to add comments about the assistance you have received from any of these organizations.  You should also write in if you find that an organization in our region is not listed and should be added.  (This site is still under construction.)

This section includes research initiatives that our community feels must be pursued.  For example, the High/Scope Perry Preschool Study conducted in Ypsilanti, Michigan in the 1960s contributes to the understanding the early childhood education community has on the value of quality child care.  The statistics that come from this report have been utilized by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve to extend the argument as to why investing in young children is the wisest investment one can make.  The paper published by the Federal Reserve in March 2003 explains the internal rate of return on investments in early childhood clearly and leaves room for more research of this kind.  More longitudinal studies of this sort are necessary to make informed policy decisions in the field of child care.  What research needs to be conducted in your opinion to further the understanding of the economic realities of investing in children? 

You can write in your answers by logging into this website at the upper left-hand corner of this page.  If you need help logging in, please write to Roberta Waxman-Lenz at rwaxlenz [at] gmail [dot] com">rwaxlenz [at] gmail [dot] com.  We welcome your thoughts on this important issue.

Roberta Waxman-Lenz, consultant to Case Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI), speaks of the origins and purpose of this initiative - this is the 3rd meeting nurtured by REI centered on the connection between early childhood development and economic development. (To see workshop agenda, click here.)

Ed Morrison, director of REI, speaks of his experience in governmental economic development that first connected these concepts in the late 1980's, leading to initiatives of Commission on the South - Ed now wants to see Northeast Ohio as a global center of investing economic development funding in children as opposed to moving companies around - transfer the hundreds of millions into the open source process focused on conversation in critical areas outlined in Ed's Open Source Economic Development Framework -

Ed stresses we need to think about all this very differently than in the past - Commission on the South started with the concept that Economic Development begins with the pregnant mother - looks to making pre-school and all day kindergarten available to all children. REI is taking that thinking across this region - not inventing new ways but leveraging existing strengths and migrating what we are doing into the economic development space - build that Return On Investment argument so "business" leaders see the connection - and how do we build that vision out across the region - leverage network of universities and organizations.

It is Ed's position the county should completely stop spending money to move companies around the region, and rather to invest that in the pregnant mom and early child development. Ed's defense of this position is to point to successes across the country, and costs of failure - like $25,000 cost per student to help unprepared dropout through to a GED versus preparing students to succeed throughout life.

Economic Development is a complex system - challenge is to operate effectively in the civic space - build networks around brainpower (not blame-game around education). Ed's model puts brainpower first at the most fundamental level in his economic model. Ed points out the failure of the hierarchical model of command and control that remains the foundation of traditional economic development. He explains that failed model as being: get an entry level job - work up the chain of pay-scales within the constraints of your "degrees" - stay in the same company for one's whole working life - all that is dead.

Part Three of the Forum on the Economics of Early Childhood Development will take place on Wednesday, March 16, 4-6PM at the Peter B. Lewis Building (Room 02) of Case Weatherhead School of Management.  Detailed map: http://www.case.edu/visit/map/.  Address: 11119 Bellflower Road, Cleveland, OH.

Co-hosts: Case Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI), The Economics of Early Childhood Development Initiative (EECD), and Invest in Children.

Join us to build a regional dialogue from lessons learned in Cuyahoga County. Our goal is to engage our community in developing a regional strategy for child care across the 22 counties of northeast Ohio.

Participants at Part Two of the Forum on EECD identified twelve initiatives to strengthen early child care in northeast Ohio.  These initiatives – listed below – were developed through a series of brainstorming sessions at the event.  The first two of these focus on early child care professionals reaching out to businesses and to policy people to broaden the discussion of the needs of our young children.  The Research and Public Awareness initiatives feed into the process for reaching these overarching goals.  The Research projects conducted will also strengthen our Public Awareness efforts.  Another element that must be factored into this picture is that of media.  What role will media play in furthering this endeavor?  View a model that clarifies how these initiatives relate to each other: click here.