Governor creates early childhood council

By Bill McCarthy, Cowboy State Free Press bureau chief

CHEYENNE – Gov. Dave Freudenthal announced today that he created the Wyoming Early Childhood State Advisory Council.

The council, created through executive order, is intended to encourage coordination and collaboration between public and private care and education programs and services in the state.

Statistics show that for “every dollar you invest in youth, juveniles and, frankly, in pre-natal care, all the way back, will save you more than $7,” the governor said in explaining the state’s focus on juvenile issues.

Those include such things as juvenile justice and out-of-family placements for troubled kids as well as early childhood education.

“The capacity to reproduce is not the same as the capacity to create a family and I think that you see that example over and over again and for us to turn a blind eye is, not only I think morally wrong, it is financially stupid to essentially allow those problems to go unaddressed,” Freudenthal said.

The least expensive and most successful time to reach children is when they are young.

“You have fewer problems with them in school. You have fewer nutritional issues,” Freudenthal said. “Frankly, you have reduced rates of criminal activity, and so ultimately the very best investment – and I think we intuitively know – the very best investment you can make is when personalities and bodies are being molded as opposed to an old guy like me.”

Members of the Wyoming Early Childhood State Advisory Council will include representatives from the departments of Education, Family Services, Health, Workforce Services and higher education, as well as the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes.

Other council members will include child-care providers, child-development service providers, a parent of a young child and a private foundation that places funding emphasis on early childhood programs.

The creation of the council makes the state eligible for $500,000 in federal funding and expands the duties of its predecessor, the Wyoming Early Childhood Development Council.

The Council will be attached to the Wyoming Department of Family Services for administrative purposes and Sue Bacon will serve as the interim coordinator. People interested in serving on the council should contact Meredith Asay of the governor’s office at (307) 777.7434.