United Way of Mat-Su awarded Early Childhood Partnership Grant

MAT-SU — United Way of Mat-Su has received a grant from Best Beginnings to organize an early childhood partnership.

A MATter of Success: A Best Beginnings Partnership is one of nine recipients in Alaska to receive funding from Best Beginnings, a statewide public-private partnership that mobilizes people and resources to ensure all children begin school ready to succeed.

Best Beginnings provided these grants knowing that local communities are best positioned to design solutions to serve young children, because they understand the individual economic, geographic, and cultural differences in their community.

“We are excited to establish an early childhood Partnership to improve Early Childhood Education in the Mat-Su,” said partnership chair Mark Lackey of CCS Early Learning. “The grant was awarded earlier this year, and since this time we have been working hard to gather local data for an early childhood community assessment.

“We will be gathering a group of individuals and organizations to examine this data and to develop a community-wide strategic plan. We want our service area to be supportive of young children and their families, committed to high-quality services and coordinated efforts so resources are used effectively.”

Extensive research shows investments made in young children increase the chance of their success in school and in life. One of the obstacles to this in Alaska is the lack of any overarching structure or coordination among the various entities that touch on early childhood.

For older children, the K-12 school system provides that structure. However, there is no comparable structure to coordinate resources and services for early childhood. The grant provided by Best Beginnings to A MATter of SUccess will help Partnerships work together more effectively, make better use of resources, and provide better services to their youngest residents.

To learn more about A MATter of Success, please contact Stephanie Allen at 373-5821, sallen@unitedwaymatsu.org or Mark Lackey at 745-4040, mlackey@ccsalaska.org.