The importance of early childhood education was one of the first messages Chattanooga 2.0 pushed out and began to work on after its establishment in late 2015.
Since that time, the education initiative and its collaborators have attempted to apprise area residents of the necessity of giving their children the tools they need by the time they start kindergarten. For many of those residents, the use of early childhood learning centers is involved. The quality of those centers, what they teach and how available they are also have been areas in which the initiative has worked.
In a forum on Wednesday, Chattanooga 2.0 and its collaborators linked the importance of early childhood education with the scourge of opioid addiction.
To some, on the surface, the link may be nebulous; to others, it is glaring.
If a child’s parent or parents are dealing with opioid addiction, several things are certain. That child is not getting all of the care, training and support it should at home and won’t as long as the addiction continues. Thus, the chances of the child starting kindergarten without what he or she needs is increased.