August Focus: Success in School
Depends on Early Learning
Young children learn through play, social interaction and exposure to new words and ideas. From birth, their brains are structured in response to these experiences, forming pathways for future learning. Yet many young children in our community are not receiving the cognitive stimulation they need to prepare for success in school.

The sad truth is that a whopping 40 percent of children entering kindergarten in our community — the majority of whom live in poverty — are 12 to 18 months behind developmentally.

For these children, achieving at the same rate as their better-prepared peers becomes increasingly difficult, and this developmental lag contributes to grade failures, high school drop out rates and incarceration rates.

No issue is more important to Central Texas' social health and economic vitality than addressing the needs of our youngest citizens, from birth to age 6. Clearly, providing environments for young children that foster necessary cognitive and behavioral development is a top priority. Local nonprofits, governmental organizations and collaborations are answering the call, striving to improve family support services as well as a system of quality early care opportunities. The future of our workforce and our community depends on it.

About I Live Here, I Give Here
Austin is no doubt a caring community. But we don't act on our charitable values by sharing our financial resources with nonprofit organizations. National studies consistently find Austinites give far less to charitable causes than people in other cities. In fact, Austin is ranked 48th out of the 50 largest cities in the nation in per capita giving.

The I Live Here, I Give Here Campaign is on a mission to boost local giving by educating fellow Austinites about the needs in our community.

Find more at www.ilivehereigivehere.org.