Join KIDS COUNT March 24th for the "Business on Board with Childcare!" Awards
20 years of success + 1 Forbes 500 CEO + 71 childcare-friendly businesses + 17 employers who are charting a new course = 1 special celebration. And we want you to be part of our celebration equation! Please join KIDS COUNT March 24th at noon at the Charleston Marriott as we celebrate our 20th anniversary by honoring 71 West Virginia businesses that achieved the Business on Board with Childcare! designation in 2009.
We will also honor the 17 employers who went above and beyond the minimum Business on Board with Childcare! criteria to achieve the Business on Board with Childcare! "Navigator Award." The keynote speaker for the event will be Richard Adams, Chairman and CEO of United Bank, an emeritus member of the West Virginia KIDS COUNT Fund Board of Directors and former Chairman of KIDS COUNT. The event is dedicated to the memory of our founder, Lawson W. Hamilton, Jr.
Individual tickets are $50 and corporate table sponsorships are $1,000 and include 8 guest seats at a preferred, reserved table; special recognition during the ceremony; and company name on the event sponsor board and table signage and in the event program.
Click on the link below to RSVP and register today or call us at 304-345-2101 or 1-888-KIDSCOUNT. We hope to see you there!
Click here to learn more about the Business on Board with Childcare! program..
Why a High Quality Early Child Development System is So Important
From the moment they are born, children are profoundly shaped by the world around them. Their earliest interactions with Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and all other caring adults lay the foundation on which their futures will be built.
The fact is 64,000 West Virginia children under age six spend a large part of their day in the care of someone other than their parents because their parents are working, and there is currently no good way to measure the quality of that care.
We need better public structures to ensure that every West Virginia child can benefit from a high-quality, early child development (ECD) program. According to Marshall University, for every dollar West Virginia invests in this high-quality ECD system, we will earn a $5.20 return through outcomes such as higher academic achievement and adult earning power and lower juvenile delinquency and dropout rates.
About KIDS COUNT
For 20 years, KIDS COUNT has been West Virginia's most trusted source of information about the well-being of children and a leader in the effort to educate parents, policymakers and the public about what children need to thrive and achieve.
Our vision is to create a culture that values, nurtures and realizes the potential of our youngest children.
KIDS COUNT's recent work has been focused almost exclusively on the importance of improving access to and the quality of early child development programs. For example, the organization has played a major role in the development of standards for West Virginia's pre-kindergarten (pre-k) program, fought to save the pre-k program from legislative cuts, studied the importance of early literacy, educated business leaders about the economic impact of ECD programs, launched a multi-county campaign to improve early literacy practices, and spearheaded a successful effort to improve the quality of the state's childcare system by advocating for a childcare quality rating and improvement system.
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