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The children we serve deserve the best chance of success in school and in life

In Chesterfield County, family illiteracy, poverty, poor parenting skills and multi-generational welfare dependency trap many parents here in a grim lifestyle. Without a great deal of help, their children are doomed to the same kind of life. That's why we're working with families and chiildcare providers to give them the tools they need to give these children what they need to be ready for school.

Early childhood development is economic development with a high rate of return.

Research has shown that investment in early childhood development
programs brings a real (inflation adjusted) public return of 12
percent and a real total return, public and private, of 16 percent.

Early childhood development benefits taxpayers through reduced need for welfare assistance, increased income tax revenue, less burden on the criminal justice system and fewer children needing remedial education services.

Children who are school-ready by the age of five are more
likely to be productive in the workplace, a key to growth for the
economy going forward. Early childhood development is economic development because it improves the quality of the future
workforce and creates tremendous cost savings for society. The costs of not investing in early childhood education are just too great to ignore.

Studies show that high levels of education are consistent with strong
economic performance, and recent research on educational performance finds that the best way to invest in human capital is to start well before children reach kindergarten.

Read more in our publications. Here are the facts:

One out of four Chesterfield County families with children lives in poverty.

 

 

Over 60% of Chesterfield County pre-school children are enrolled in Medicaid; almost 30% of those small children (from birth to five years of age) lives in poverty

 

 

Well over half (62%) of all Chesterfield County children are eligible for free or reduced lunches due to economic necessity.

 

 

Almost 15% of the children in third grade at Chesterfield County schools is over age. Over 18% perform below Basic on PACT Reading tests and over 22% below Basic on PACT Math.

 

 

10% of all children born in Chesterfield County are low birthweight infants; and over a quarter of them are born to mothers with less than a high school education.

 

 

Chesterfield County per capita personal income is $20,981 over 20% less than South Carolina's $27,172.

 

 

There are not enough child care providers in Chesterfield County. If all operated at capacity, they could provide care for only 1,376 preschoolers—representing only 39% of the preschool-aged populations.

 

 

Almost 10% of all children in Chesterfield County do not live with their natural parents, living with relatives, guardians or in institutional facilities.

 

 

Almost 10% of Chesterfield County's workforce is unemployed as compared to the state and national averages of almost 4%.

 

Publications


Click here for downloadable publications, including
annual reports,
research findings, and more.

 

 
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