 Colton Strawser Consulting’s Director of Communication, Whitney Driver, attended the 3rd annual Early Learning Summit for Community Coalitions in Indianapolis earlier this week. As a leader in Early Learning Coalitions, it was important to attend this summit and learn more from business, policy, and civic leaders from across the state that are engaged in creating strong, sustainable, and effective early care and education initiatives.  Fifty counties from all over the state attended the event, and this event focused on supporting the workforce today through investing in early childhood education. The President & CEO of Early Learning Indiana presented new information on a recent statewide study that examined how the current lack of accessible early childcare and education is affecting the economy and workforce. There is a high demand for early childcare and education, but limited availability, high cost, and other factors affect the accessibility and create barriers for parents to continue working or work towards a degree. The study concluded that creating early learning childcare businesses would make a positive impact on economic development workforce. The Early Learning Summit also hosted a Community Impact Panel, featuring the Mayor of Crawfordsville, Executives and employees, Higher Education leaders, and parents. The main topic of discussion was how access to early childhood education impacts local communities, businesses and working families. The panel also highlighted innovative practices that others could replicate or translate into their own communities. The State Legislative panel followed, and attendees got to hear Indiana Representatives and Senators talk about current state of early childhood education from a legislative perspective. The panel was bipartisan and gave us better insight about how this issue plays out in the political sphere and how early childhood initiatives can be affected by government policy in the future. Dr. James Laughlin and Muncie By5, an organization focused on early childhood awareness in Muncie and Delaware County, received the Community Early Learning Champion Award at the end of the event. Interested in starting an Early Learning Coalition for your community? We can help! We have specialized consultants with years of experience in early childhood initiatives. We can help with needs assessments, cases for support, community organization, and more! Contact us for more information and a free strategy session! 
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