Early Childhood Education Advocates Host Stroller Parade On Independence Mall
By Mike Dougherty
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A group of early childhood education advocates organized a “stroller parade” on Independence Mall Saturday afternoon to draw attention to the importance of learning before kindergarten, especially among children from low-income families.
This is all about investing in the future of our children, according to Childspace CDI executive director Janet Filante.
“If kids have that high quality education early on,” Filante says, “they are much more likely to have higher incomes later on and less likely to have problems with the law.”
C. Jackie Cheyney with Childspace wants to see politicians make more funding available for this gap in education, particularly in low-income neighborhoods.
“If you don’t pay now, you’re going to pay later,” Cheyney says. “Those same children may be the kids that break in your house down the road.”
As a childcare provider in West Philly, Dewetta Logan sees first hand what happens when kids don’t get quality care at a young age.
“We got high school drop-outs,” Logan says. “We got teenage pregnancy. We got so many social issues that stem from people not choosing education as a means to an end.”