RD251 - Virginia Early Childhood Foundation Annual Report 2008 and Financial Statements


Executive Summary:
We are pleased to share this report of the progress made by the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation during our fiscal year that ended June 30th, 2008. The quotation on our cover clearly states that early childhood development is the foundation of human capital formation. We firmly believe this, not just because it is from the World Bank, but because long-term economic and scientific studies prove that investing in children early in life strengthens their chances of success in school and in the workplace, while helping them become healthy, contributing members of their communities.

This 2008 Annual Report presents the steady progress made by the Foundation during the last fiscal year. It was the first full year of operations for the Foundation and this report covers our second year of funding from the FY2007 General Assembly appropriation. We are pleased to report that public funds have been used effectively to support local efforts to build early childhood delivery systems and leadership across the Commonwealth. These funds have been matched with private sector resources raised by the Foundation and with local investments made by public and private sector supporters in our Smart Beginnings communities around Virginia. What is even more astonishing is the fact that because of our modest investments in their communities, Smart Beginnings coalitions have been able to obtain and leverage resources nearly four times greater than our investments. This clearly demonstrates the broad commitment that citizens and leaders from all sectors of Virginia have made to this investment in human capital.

We are also pleased to report that the Foundation has strengthened its staff expertise and is offering increased levels of technical assistance to Smart Beginnings coalitions. At the same time, we are providing leadership to a variety of statewide initiatives, including a pilot of a Quality Ratings and Improvement System (QRIS) that will ultimately serve to help parents make educated choices regarding the early learning settings where they place their children. We also expect the QRIS to dramatically improve the quality of early care and education environments across Virginia.

In a very short time, the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation has made tremendous progress towards the creation of strong early childhood systems to improve the school readiness of our youngest Virginians. By partnering with the public and private sectors, and with their increased support, we will continue to invest in Virginia’s human capital and future success.