The Ochs Center for Metropolitan Studies will host a policy forum on early childhood education on June 20 from 9:30 a.m.–3:30 p.m. at the UTC University Center Chattanooga Room.
The forum will focus on what government, non-profits, parents, teachers and county leaders can do to better ensure school success for Hamilton County children.
Last year, an Ochs Center study found that one in four children born in Hamilton County were “at risk” of not being ready when they enter kindergarten.
The forum will feature guest speaker and journalist Paul Tough, author of Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America. In Whatever It Takes, Paul Tough chronicles the success of the Harlem Children’s Zone – a 97-block laboratory in central Harlem where poor kids are being prepared to compete with their middle-class peers by changing everything in their lives — their schools, their neighborhoods, even the child-rearing practices of their parents. The Harlem Children’s Zone is now the model for President Obama’s proposed Promise Neighborhoods program.
In addition to the keynote speaker, the forum will include two panel discussions.
Panel one will feature Peter Cooper, President, Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga; Dr. Carol Berz, Chattanooga City Council Member and Finance Committee Chair; Travis McDonough, Partner, Miller & Martin and member, Hamilton County Department of Education Advisory Panel; Linda Mosley, Hamilton County School Board; Dr. Jim Scales, Hamilton County Superintendent of Schools.
Panel two will feature Cory Curl, Governor’s Office of State Planning and Policy; Phil Acord, President and CEO, The Children's Home-Chambliss; Emily Baker, Principal, East Side Elementary, Hamilton County Department of Education; Dr. Brenda Benford, Director, Pre-Kindergarten, Hamilton County Department of Education; Judi Byrd, Director, Hamilton County Department of Social Services; Linda McReynolds, Senior Vice President of Organizational Development, United Way of Greater Chattanooga.
Edna Varner, Senior Program Consultant, Public Education Foundation and Director of Leadership Development, Cornerstone National Literacy Initiative, will be the lunchtime speaker. Tennessee State Senator and Education Committee member Andy Berke will give the closing remarks.
A School Readiness Advisory Board, made up of leading practitioners and key collaborative partners, is working with the Ochs Center to ensure community ownership and sustainability of the effort to improve education and early childhood interventions in our county. The forum is the latest effort in the ongoing research and planning work being conducted on school readiness and early childhood education.
The School Readiness Advisory Board:
Phil Acord, The Children's Home-Chambliss
Harold H. Baker, Orange Grove Center
Dr. Brenda Benford, HCDE
Judi Byrd, Hamilton County Social Services
Dr. David Cook, Siskin Children’s Institute
Linda Daniel, Tennessee Department of Human Services
Kathy Daniels, Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth
Anne Gamble, Director, Project Ready for School
Bobbie Grantham, Child Care Resource and Referral
Jackie Hill, Chattanooga State College
Dr. Kirk Kelly, HCDE
Shawn Kurrelmeier-Lee, READ 20
Donna McConnico, Signal Centers, Inc.
Beverly McKeldin, Chattanooga Department of Human Services
Linda McReynolds, United Way of Greater Chattanooga
Emily Perrine, Tennessee Department of Human Services
Judy Sisk, Child Care Resource Referral
Sara Thompson, Head Start
Debra Vaughan, Public Education Foundation
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.ochscenter.org or call 423-425-5616.
The Ochs Center would like to recognize the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga for their support of the project.