WINSTON-SALEM, NC, APRIL 11, 2019 – A coalition of community leaders led by Family Services announced a plan to provide universal early education for every 4-year-old, commonly known as pre-K, in Forsyth County at a press conference at Winston-Salem State University on Tuesday.
A report issued by the initiative, named the Pre-K Priority, cites a 2017 Harvard study that found Forsyth County to be the fifth worst county in the nation — only four Native American reservation counties performed lower — “for helping poor children move up the income ladder.” The initiative’s backers believe that early childhood education is the key to disrupting the cycle of poverty, based on recent discoveries in brain science that show that the first five years of life are a time of rapid and critical physical, social, emotional and cognitive development. Read more.