Louisville Community Conversation to Highlight City's Innovative Cradle-to-Career Initiative

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Apr 22, 2015, 02:02 ET

LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 22, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Local leaders, educators, parents and community members will convene tomorrow for a "community conversation" on how to create greater community support of Louisville's Cradle-to-Career Initiative, with an emphasis on increasing family and community engagement in early childhood care and education. Mayor Greg Fischer will host the event, which will take place at Louisville's Metro United Way. Dr. Libby Doggett, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Early Learning at the U.S. Department of Education will provide the keynote address.

Louisville's community conversation is organized by Mayor Greg Fischer's office and the Metro United Way, with assistance from the National League of Cities and the U.S. Department of Education. The conversation will focus on what the city and its partners can do to promote kindergarten readiness and how early learning is part of an interconnected education system that includes success in K-12 that paves the way for a smooth transition from high school to postsecondary success.

"Too many kids – almost 50 percent in Louisville – arrive for their first day of kindergarten already behind," said Greg Fischer, mayor of Louisville, Ky. "The critical work happening here today will help us achieve our goal of giving every child a strong start in life, and I am grateful to the United States Department of Education and the National League of Cities for choosing Louisville to host this conversation."

This community conversation is one of 15 conversations held in cities across the country resulting from a "memorandum of understanding" signed by the National League of Cities and the U.S. Department of Education in March 2014. The conversations focus on early childhood education, afterschool learning and postsecondary success, and explore ways that cities are working to close the achievement gap and increase student outcomes, including non-academic outcomes such as social and emotional skills. Louisville's community conversation is the last one in this series of successful events held over the last year.

"These community conversations have increased the visibility of the role local officials can play in creating a productive dialogue on education in their communities," said Clarence Anthony, CEO and executive director of the National League of Cities. "We will continue to support the work of local leaders across the country in their efforts to provide the highest quality education systems for their youngest residents."

National League of Cities
The National League of Cities (NLC) is dedicated to helping city leaders build better communities. NLC is a resource and advocate for 19,000 cities, towns and villages, representing more than 218 million Americans.

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SOURCE National League of Cities