literacy

President Obama laid out a plan for universal Pre-K in his 2013 State of the Union address, and came back to that theme in his 2015 speech. “In today’s economy, when having both parents in the workforce is an economic necessity for many families, we need affordable, high-quality childcare more than ever,” Obama said during this week’s address.

There has been an uptick in philanthropic funds to increase the availability and quality of early education services in the past several months. Two leading foundations have made large commitments to the field.

Last week, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that the city of Chicago will be home to a substantial social impact bond project addressing early education services for impoverished youth and families. According the Nonprofit Finance Fund, there are currently projects in various implementation stages underway in Massachusetts, New York, Utah, Colorado, Ohio, Connecticut, Michigan, Illinois, South Carolina and California.

The William Penn Foundation and Drexel University have formed a partnership to help improve early education in West Philadelphia. This partnership will support the West Philadelphia Early Childhood Education Initiative (WPECE) to increase high-quality child care in the Mantua, West Powelton and Belmont neighborhoods.