Ariel Ford believes investing in a child's earliest years is about more than preparing them for kindergarten; it's also a way to strengthen families and communities.
"The work that we are doing [around early childhood] will make an impact on everyone in the city," said Ford, the new director of the City of Chattanooga's Office of Early Learning.
In her role, Ford will oversee the city's work supporting its youngest residents and collaborate with those in the community who are working to give children the best possible start to life.
Research shows that 80 percent of a child's brain development happens during the first three years. Investing early in children and carrying out appropriate interventions and supports are shown to have large returns on investment for them later in life.
The city, under Mayor Andy Berke's leadership, has boosted its investment in early childhood development, providing more than $1.5 million in additional support for families and funding for quality child care in the last three years.
Berke said there is an ongoing debate across the country and here about fairness, and he hopes the Office of Early Learning will be a tool that allows all kids to start life on a sturdy foundation.
"It's hard to feel like you're running a fair race if you're starting out 10 yards behind everyone else," Berke said Friday. "And that's why early learning is important."
A focus of the Office of Early Learning is to help families fill in the gaps, as parents aren't always equipped with the knowledge to be the great parents they want to be or the resources.
Ford said families need a range of supports. Some may need information about the importance of prenatal checkups and help accessing quality child care, while others are looking for a weekly parenting tip in a text message.
"[Early childhood] is just not lockstep like it is in K-12," Ford said, adding that once a child starts kindergarten a clearer system and expectations for parents are in place. She hopes the Office of Early Learning will become a resource to all families as they navigate their children's early years.
Already, the city is working with community partners to run Baby University, which launched in 2015, and provides families with individual support to ensure babies are born healthy and are meeting developmental benchmarks. In the last two years, the program has grown to serve 150 families and is posting strong results.
This year, the city also set aside $100,000 in early learning scholarships for working families who earn too much to get state support, but not enough to pay for the cost of high-quality child care. The city has also secured federal dollars to expand Head Start and Early Head Start, which provide child care and health services for low-income children.
Ford comes to Chattanooga with years of experience working in early childhood education in Delaware and North Carolina, starting as a preschool teacher and moving up to direct early learning programs at the state level.
She said she is eager to build upon the work that is in place here and develop a plan for the city's work moving forward, which she will tie to both long and short-term metrics around health and school readiness to track progress.
Chattanooga is poised to be a leader in early education, she noted, as the city has several partnerships with groups like Chattanooga 2.0, which has set the goal of boosting the percentage of students entering kindergarten ready for school from 40 percent to 80 percent by 2025.
Jared Bigham, coordinator of Chattanooga 2.0, said it's been great to have Ford join the group as it works to improve early childhood outcomes.
"First, she brings an impressive skill set and a depth of experience that will help drive the work of the Early Childhood coalition," Bigham said. "And by hiring her, it shows the ongoing commitment by the city to support quality early learning."
Berke said the table is set, and people across the community are sitting around it trying to figure out how to strengthen kids, families and the community.
"None of us can do it alone," he said, adding that the city is glad to play its part.
Contact staff writer Kendi A. Rainwater at krainwater@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592. Follow her on Twitter @kendi_and.