For the past seven years, public, private and civic sector leaders have gathered annually at the California Economic Summit to develop strategies for increasing California’s economic vitality and ensuring that communities across the state are economically strong, sustainable and resilient.
This year’s Summit, which took place on November 15th and 16th in Santa Rosa, featured a new and important topic area– early childhood development. On September 20, 2018, in preparation for the CA Economic Summit program, early childhood learning practitioners and business leaders met to develop a draft action plan recommending cross-sector solutions. The focus was on economic investments to sustain and expand quality early care and learning. The recommendations fell into four categories:
Encourage and promote family-friendly work environments.
Expand quality child care and preschool access.
Support families to access the care they need to build stronger communities.
Expand California’s Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC).
As part of the Summit program, early childhood advocates met to refine these recommendations and discuss next steps. The meeting room was packed with people eager to share their ideas. Education quality and educator career paths were major points of the discussion, which was facilitated by First 5 California. The final recommendations will be incorporated into a 2019 Roadmap for Shared Prosperity. We will keep you updated on recommendations and the Roadmap.
The 4-minute CA Economic Summit opening video can be found here.
