WECA, in collaboration with the Early Learning Coalition’s Great Start campaign, has been working on several advocacy efforts to secure adequate funding for early childhood education in the Wisconsin state budget. For one of the activities, we asked parents to write postcards to their legislators describing why they support a Great Start for all of Wisconsin’s children. Parents completed the statement “my hopes for my child in his/her early childhood development program:” with some very inspiring thoughts. Here are some examples.

“He will have access to high quality early childhood care where teachers have the educational background to offer age appropriate activities and feel they are compensated well enough to remain at their job for an extended period of time.”

“My hope is that she learns positive social skills and educational foundation skills (colors, letter, numbers) in a fun, safe, healthy environment with a highly trained and engaged staff.”

“Anyone can babysit, but it takes a special person to care for a child. It is only through trained personnel and licensed providers that Wisconsin pre-school aged children be well-developed and well-balanced. In today’s society, parents no longer are their children’s only guidance. By having the option to send our children to a program that not only offers supervision, but an outlet for creativity, learning, social interaction, and devotion, we can be assured they will flourish as they grow, which, in turn, will provide for Wisconsin’s success in the next generation.”

Want to help with our postcard campaign? Visit our website for materials and more information. All completed postcards can be sent to WECA and will be hand-delivered to the capitol; delivery to begin in early April.