December 2013 / January 2014
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Dana E. Friedman, President EYI
I'm always looking for "advocacy ammo," those crystal clear nuggets that summarize the rationale for investing in early education. Here's one of the more interesting statements from  Connor Williams of Ed Central: "[Public investments in early childhood education] could make it possible for at-home parents to return more quickly to the workforce and generate more economic activity to help pay for public pre-K's costs. These present benefits may even have long-term consequences of their own, since research shows that increases in family income propagate increases in children's future earnings. In sum, early childhood programs save mom and dad money, get them back to work faster, and help them make more money-all of which cuts down on child poverty and further improves outcomes for children who are also getting quality instruction in the early childhood program.
-Dana Friedman, president, The Early Years Institute

  Public Policy in Early ChildhoodPublicPolicy2

New York State did not succeed in getting a federal Early Learning Challenge Grant...again.  Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Vermont did. This is a cataclysmic disaster for New York's efforts to expand and improve early childhood education. New York received 252 points out a possible 315, and ranked 8th out of the 17 submitted proposals. The most consistent comments from reviewers had to do with the lack of financial support from NYS for the systems we proposed to build and the lack of sustainability as a result. The Early Childhood Advisory Council will be meeting in January to regroup and reinvigorate our efforts.

 

The Welfare to Work Commission of the Suffolk County Legislature held hearings on December 2 and December 18, 2013 entitled, "Who's Minding the Kids? Meeting Challenges...Creating Opportunities for Quality Child care in Suffolk County." In addition to the 25 who people testified, four focus groups were held with parents and a survey was distributed to a larger group of parents as well. A report based on all the input will be prepared for the Legislature which will include recommendations for reform. Jennifer Rojas of the Rauch Foundation provided creative suggestions, such as shared services for providers to save money; leveraging pre-K funding by offering matching grants to support professional development;  and finding an elected official who will be a voice for young children at the state level.

  Hot Topics in the NewsHotTopics

"The Top Ten PreK-12 Stories of 2013" - From watching ESEA Waivers and budget dealings to changing demographics and the common core, New America's PreK-12 education team has compiled the 10 biggest stories of the year. Read more
  
"Kindergarten is Too Late -- We Need to Strengthen Brains Earlier Than That" -  The basic and most important mental development processes that are needed to help each child read, stay in school, and stay out of prison actually happen before the age of five. Read more
  
"Prescription for Growing Up Healthy" - A report released by Docs for Tots that highlights the impact that high quality early care and learning settings can have to transform our nation's health.  It makes the case for quality care and strongly supports the Strong Start For America's Children Act. Read more
  
"How Preschool Impacts Student Scores Shown In One Graph" - The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international exam that compares education patterns around the world shows that, on the whole, students who attended preschool performed better on the international exam, even after accounting for socioeconomic differences. Read more

 

"And the TOADY goes to: The iPotty by CTA Digital" - With 45% of the vote, 2013's winner of the Toys Oppressive and Destructive to Young children (TOADY) Award is the 2-In-1 iPotty with Activity Seat for iPad. Read more
EYIinWestbury EYI In the Westbury Community
RSA Group
 
On Wednesday, December 11th, The Early Years Institute (EYI) and the Ready, Set, Achieve! Fund Committee distributed over $64,000 in grant awards to 9 community projects whose proposals met the criteria of improving early learning opportunities and experiences for all children ages 0-5 and their families in Westbury. 
 
Read more: LongIsland.com     Westbury Times     More photos
  
Events, Trainings, and Workshops
 Events
Past:
On Thursday, December 12th, EYI and The Long Island Language Advocates Coalition (LILAC) co-hosted a panel discussion entitled:

The panelists included: 

 

Eudes Budhai,  Interim Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum, Instruction and Personnel - Westbury;

Cornelia Randolph, Priority Schools Consultant with RBE RN - Eastern Suffolk BOCES; Board Co-Chair of the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center - East Hampton, New York; 

Elizabeth DeFazio-Rodriguez, Bilingual Special Education Resource Specialist with RSE-TASC - Eastern Suffolk BOCES

Maria-Angelica Meyer, Interim Director, Office of Second Language Acquisition and Adult Learning Center - Westbury UFSD;  

Cheryl Keshner, Senior Paralegal /Community Advocate - Empire Justice Center; Coordinator - Long Island Language Advocates Coalition (LILAC)


For information on this session, please visit: 

Presentations & Related materials

Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center (East Hampton)

Video  (Video produced by LILAC for their 2nd Annual conference that showcases instances of language access issues individuals on Long Island face. The Clip shown at meeting begins at 9:06)

Lau vs. Nichols (Civil Rights Case that ruled that language access falls under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964)

Upcoming:

Webinar on State-Level Early Childhood Governance 

Tuesday, January 14th, at 3 pm EST

Register here

 

 Parent Child Home Program
Call for proposals for 2014 conference 
Deadline for submission: January 15th
Conference: Monday, May 5th - Tuesday, May 6th 2014
Click here for Cover Page
Click here for Call for Proposals
  Our Supporters
  Grants
- Thank you to the Morgan Stanley Foundation and their $1,000 level sponsorship of our soon to be released Outdoor Classroom Resource Guide!  This Guide was developed to help community groups build outdoor classrooms using primarily local Long Island resources for the purpose of reducing our carbon footprint and boosting our local economy.  Many of the ideas and information provided was taken from the existing outdoor classrooms on Long Island.  

 

- Thanks to a $6,000 contribution from the Frances R. Dewing Foundation, EYI will be able to to enhance one feature of the outdoor nature explore classroom at Bunky Reid Park; the Nature Art and Building Area. EYI will purchase slate boards for water painting and tree cookie slices and building blocks in various shapes, sizes and types of wood for stacking and building. 

Interested in helping raise funds for this project? Read more 

  
Favorite Quote
 Quote

"I love snow for the same reason I love Christmas: It brings people together while time stands still. Cozy couples lazily meandered the streets and children trudged sleds and chased snowballs. No one seemed to be in a rush to experience anything other than the glory of the day, with each other, whenever and however it happened."

 

- Rachel Cohn, Dash & Lily's Book of Dares

Through your generosity, EYI improves early learning opportunities for all children in our region to help them achieve success 
in school and life.
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In This Issue
Explore EYI Projects


EYI on Long Island
Children are born learning! 

By age five, a child's brain is 85 percent developed.  Our vision is to close the achievement gap so all children are ready to succeed in school and life. 


EYI is working in over 30 

communities throughout the region

 to transform early childhood education and promote school readiness.

   

Ready, Set, Achieve!

EYI's Board of Directors

Jane Ashdown, Ph.D.

Chair

Adelphi University

 

Warren Rosenfeld, M.D.

Vice-Chair

Winthrop-University Hospital

 

John Sepe

Treasurer

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney

 

Lorraine Aycock

Bank of America

 

Dr. Constance R. Clark-Snead

Educational Consultant

 

Silvana Diaz

Noticia Hispanoamericana, Inc.

 

Erika A. Craven

PHH Arval

 

Jaci Clement

Fair Media Council

 

Sandy Feinberg

Family Place Libraries

 

Jonathan Knox

Life Planning Group

 

Erica Lee-Benedetto

Worldwide Who's Who

 

Benjamin Malerba

Rivkin Radler

 

Michael Rainone

ProActive Technology Group

Contact Us
The Early Years Institute
One Dupont Street
Suite 101
Plainview, NY 11803
516.304.5480
516.304.5484 (fax)