Saturday, June 19, 2004
North Carolina is a leading state when it comes to thinking about child care as a critical industry for an innovation economy. Eleven years ago, former governor Jim Hunt launched Smart Start, an initiative guided by the vision that every child would enter school healthy and prepared.
In a short-sighted move, North Carolina legislators have been cutting appropriations for Smart Start over the last three years, even as they have considered new incentives for companies. Investments in early childhood care are critically important for economies that run on brainpower. You can learn more about the economic impacts of early child care from this site.
The report released last week represents an effort to educate the legislators on the need to expand investments in early child care. Read more.
You can download the report from this page. (Free registration required.)
You can see how your state ranks in preschool education from this site.
posted by Ed Morrison |
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Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
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Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
North Carolina child care report
