EARLY EDUCATION AND THE FUTURE WORKFORCE

The Child Care Council of Suffolk’s (CCCS) 27th Annual Meeting – which was held at Touro Law School on Friday, June 12, 2015 – focused on the theme of why we all have a stake in the issue of early childhood education. The CCCS also recognized Hon. Jacqueline A. Gordon, Town of Babylon Councilwoman, and Sandra Gil, Parent Leadership Initiative (PLI) Advocate with Outstanding Supporter Awards and featured Keynote Speaker Bill Millett, President, Scope View Strategic Advantage.

In his Keynote Address, Millett described that “it is in the earliest years that the development of the future workforce begins and where such factors as creativity, collaboration, motivation, critical thinking, entrepreneurship and related factors are fostered … or stymied.” Despite this reality, “high-quality, early education in many place across the United States is under-recognized, under-valued and under-funded. The evidence is everywhere: the frequent lack of strong public sector financial support, the low professional standards often set for early educators, the salaries and benefits or lack of same that they receive and the minimal involvement in the issue by too many elected, business and other leaders.”

Millett described how “to be successful in life and in work, today’s Suffolk County kids will need to be ready in ways that none of us ever had to be, for their competition for quality jobs and lifestyles is growing up on at least four other continents. And more than a few of the counties on those continents are investing more in getting their children ready for the future than we are.”

He thanked the Child Care Council of Suffolk’s Annual Meeting attendees for their interest “in the returns that are generated by investments in quality early education – returns that benefit children, parents, businesses, governments, and taxpayers … returns that can be measured in terms of workforce development, economic development, community development, public safety and even national security … returns that set the right course for Suffolk County and that of the United States.”

“There is no one at this Annual Meeting who does not have a stake in how this issue is addressed. For that matter, there is no one anywhere in Suffolk County, who does not have major skin in the fame,” said Millett. “The stakes are high, and America needs to be ‘all in’.”

Photo Caption: Child Care Council of Suffolk (CCCS) Honoree and PLI Advocate Sandra Gil, CCCS Executive Director Janet Walerstein, Scope View Strategic Advantage President Bill Millett, CCCS Board of Directors President Linda Armyn, and CCCS Honoree and Town of Babylon Councilwoman Jackie Gordon, at the Child Care Council of Suffolk’s 27th Annual Meeting.