PRINTER'S NO. 1163
No. 56 Session of 1997
INTRODUCED BY MURPHY, COSTA, BODACK, WAGNER, BELAN AND HART,
JUNE 9, 1997
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, JUNE 9, 1997
A RESOLUTION
1 Declaring the month of July 1997 as "Allegheny County Early
2 Childhood Initiative Month" in Pennsylvania.
3 WHEREAS, Quality early childhood education is a proven
4 strategy to enhance the chances for children to become
5 successful and productive adults; and
6 WHEREAS, Neighborhood-based decision making takes advantage
7 of the strength of communities to ensure that goals of early
8 childhood education are compatible with the needs of
9 participants; and
10 WHEREAS, Only a concerted effort launched to serve the
11 majority of at-risk children will produce long-term results that
12 benefit our community; and
13 WHEREAS, The Allegheny County Early Childhood initiative will
14 establish a comprehensive community-based system for serving
15 young children in Allegheny County and their families, replacing
16 categorized funding streams that too often fail to serve
17 eligible children; and
1 WHEREAS, No one sector can meet the challenge to ensure
2 successful experiences for the majority of children from birth
3 to five years of age; it requires a public-private partnership
4 with individual families, community agencies, government and the
5 business community; and
6 WHEREAS, The cost of providing child care at an early age is
7 less than the cost of correcting later problems; and
8 WHEREAS, Because of the number of single parents and two-
9 parent working families in the work force, child care is an
10 underpinning of productivity, as well as being the foundation of
11 achievement for our future workers; and
12 WHEREAS, The early childhood initiative in Allegheny County
13 is designed to help low-income children, ages birth to five, to
14 become successful and productive adults by building capacity for
15 and enrolling them in high-quality early care and educational
16 services; therefore be it
17 RESOLVED, That the Senate of Pennsylvania declare the month
18 of July 1997 as "Allegheny County Early Childhood Initiative
19 Month" in Pennsylvania and encourage the effort to build a
20 management system for all children that will lead to high-
21 quality, relevant and cost-effective early care and education
22 services that will serve as a replicable model for this
23 Commonwealth.
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