By the time a child is five years old, about 90% of their brain development has occurred. So it’s hard to believe that we’re spending 95% of our education dollars on children older than five.

Kindergarten teachers will tell you that too many children are not prepared socially, emotionally, or academically for what’s ahead. More importantly, kids who start school unprepared have a hard time catching up. The message is clear: The early years matter! Several studies have followed graduates of high quality early learning programs through adulthood and found significant impacts and savings in remedial education, school drop outs, welfare, and crime because of high quality early learning education and environments.

There’s an old saying: “It takes a village to raise a child.” The more than 35,000 children born on Long Island each year – in every town and every village –need their community to help them succeed. At The Early Years Institute, we’re partnering with schools, libraries, hospitals, places of worship, parks, museums, and community centers to make sure that every child has the opportunities and the resources to learn and grow.

For a list of useful early child information web sites, click HELPFUL RESOURCES.

To find out where our programs and partners are working in or near your neighborhood, click EARLY YEARS IN YOUR COMMUNITY.

To learn about how your government and community leaders are -- or aren’t -- affecting changes in early learning, click PUBLIC POLICY.