A program to get young children ready to enter preschool now has the backing of county government.
The Shelby County Council has voted unanimously to provide $50,000 in funding for Early Learning Shelby County.
ELSC organizers say the local support will help the group get state grant funding via Paths to QUALITY, Indiana’s rating system for early childcare providers.
During the council’s discussion-only premeeting Tuesday evening, immediately prior to its regular meeting during which votes are taken, Councilman Bryan Fischer (R-2nd District) asked about ELSC’s program goals.
“So they’re trying to reach kids sooner, before they reach the school system,” said Councilman Ryan Claxton (R-At Large).
Claxton is the chairman of the Early Learning Coalition of Shelby County, the group leading the effort to establish the early learning program.
Councilwoman Linda Sanders (R-4th District) asked how they plan to reach the hundreds of preschoolers that are in Shelby County, and Claxton, a vice president with Major Health Partners, replied that Paula Gustafson, M.D., a pediatrician in the county for 20 years, is the medical director for ELSC and is well-known to people through her practice.
At the County Council’s regular meeting, Allison Coburn, program director for Early Learning Shelby County, cited studies regarding the value of early learning.
Young children who’ve been through such a program are less likely to use drugs and be involved in teen pregnancy, and more likely to graduate high school, she said.
“We find that most of those problems could have been prevented before birth,” Coburn told the council.
Asked after the meeting what she meant, Coburn replied that the social problems she mentioned tend to be generational, passed down from parent to child.
Fischer said he sees the need and asked if ELSC was proposing to create an early childhood learning center.
“This program is not a brick-and-mortar program,” Coburn replied.
Rather ELSC will focus on education and training for early child care providers already established in the community, she said.
At a recent event held at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino, ELSC presented a class of recent graduates from early childhood education courses at Blue River Career Programs.
Fischer asked about Head Start, the federal early childhood education program; Coburn called it the most-needed and least-funded young child education effort in the country.
An online search revealed one Head Start program in Shelbyville, at Human Services Inc., 1609 S. Miller St., next to the Shares Inc. facility.
County Council members voted 6-0-1 to approve the funding request. Fischer abstained saying he did not receive the group’s proposed budget via email in time to review it because his name was misspelled in the email address.
The County Council’s approval of $50,000 for ELSC follows the vote on Monday by the Shelbyville Common Council to forward the group’s request for $50,000 in funding from city government to the City Council’s Finance Committee for consideration.