Quality care for youths

By Nancy L. Jernigan

The United Way of Southeast Missouri celebrated the Week of the Young Child earlier this month with three specific goals:

* To educate parents about the threat of exposure to violence on brain development

* To encourage and educate child-care providers about the importance of their role in developing our young children, and

* To educate the business community regarding the partnership that needs to occur between early learning programs and businesses to ensure a quality workforce.

Aside from the expertise we are privileged to have with Janice Jones, our Success By 6 coordinator at the United Way of Southeast Missouri (who promotes quality early care year-around), we had the benefit of the expertise of two other advocates; Dr. Scott Gibbs and Dr. Jim Caccamo.

Dr. Gibbs is a local neurosurgeon who is known for his surgical skills and for his desire to educate our community with regard to brain development. Dr. Gibbs' presentation centered on the negative effects of continued violence on the sensitivity our youths have to violence in their world. He reminded us that repeated violence can desensitize the brain and that we need to find ways to counter the violence our youths are exposed to daily with ideas centered on compassion for one another.

Dr. Caccamo gave our child care professionals a collective hug for their work and considered them the "keepers of our democracy" due to the impact they have on educating our youngest and the results that quality early care has on our future. The next morning he addressed a roomful of business professionals to point out why they should be concerned about quality early education and how they can develop family-friendly policies and more of a focus on ensuring their employees experience quality early care for their children.

We are fortunate to have individuals in our community and state who are devoted to the research that points toward the importance of quality early care and are interested in promoting it.

The United Way of Southeast Missouri is committed to the communities of Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City to advance the importance of quality early care to our parents, child care providers and legislators for the benefit of us all.

Nancy L. Jernigan is the executive director of the United Way of Southeast Missouri.