Expert Night: Early Childhood Education
Jennifer Rainin quieted a lively audience of 200 Battery Powered members and guests with a simple idea.
“Children are like houses. It’s very hard to build on a fragile foundation,” she said.
Helping innovators build strong foundations defines the latest Battery Powered theme. Rainin’s story of personal and professional commitment set the stage for Battery Powered’s fall theme on early childhood education. Rainin runs her own foundation. She is a preschool teacher with a Ph.D. in education and a longtime advocate for children’s literacy in Oakland. Like many of her fellow Battery Powered members, Rainin has been looking forward to this theme all year. It’s personal. It also matters, because the difference between a fragile foundation and a solid one can ripple throughout a child’s life, according to the speakers who assembled for the theme’s Expert Night on September 16th.
You can watch the all of the conversations from the evening here:
The experts showed how children are “bundles of potential” waiting to be unlocked—from the chemistry of their developing brains to the zip code where they grow up. One of the speakers, pediatrician Dayna Long, shared the key to unlocking that opportunity. She addressed the interplay between experiential learning, technology and education. “Philanthropists can play a vital role in co-learning and co-creating new solutions,” she said. The message was clear: combining the boundless potential of early childhood with the resources of the people sitting in the room that night would create big returns.
Expert Night effectively launched our four-month experiment on how collective influence from the Bay Area can help all children reach their highest potential. Here’s what the panel of noted early childhood experts had to say about giving children a strong start to life:
Children are the future
Investing in children early goes a long way toward ending cycles of poverty and incarceration, boosting the economy and even improving voter turnout. Entire communities benefit when we create access to opportunity for children of all backgrounds.
“Every child and their family needs access to straightforward information, support and technology. This is about the future of the Bay and the future of this country.” — Jim Steyer, Common Sense Media; Next Generation
The Bay Area brings the next level of innovation
Leading research links social and environmental factors to unequal outcomes for children. In some cases, a child’s zip code can predict the likelihood of genetic diseases later in life. Leading experts have responded to the need for holistic solutions.
“The Bay Area has the expertise. We have the infrastructure and the patient base. We should be treating social determinants of health with the same rigor and research as I would treat pneumonia.” — Dr. Danya Long, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Oakland
Advocacy for children and their caregivers is essential for scale
When evaluating an early education program, there are three key questions to ask: Does it work in many communities? Does it engage parents and caregivers in a meaningful way? And can it scale and leverage public resources? Taking a solution to scale and getting the attention of national decisionmakers is perhaps the biggest challenge, but also one of the most important steps, according to the experts.
“Investments need to scale, and getting people in charge of the federal budget to make a difference takes persistence. Talk about early education at your next meeting, your next party. It should feel like it’s everywhere. We’re small but we’re mighty.” — Kris Perry, First Five Years Fund
Every adult plays a part in every child’s future success
Children’s early learning experiences can pave the way for future opportunity. Experts shared the many ways that interactions with the adults in their lives prepare children to thrive. Healthy environments, literacy skills and experiential learning, or “learning by doing” all made the list.
“When you think of a child, you think of an upward trajectory. … It is our job to build that trajectory and help children grow into joyful, confident learners that have secured the skills to be successful.” — Susan True, Kenneth Rainin Foundation
About Battery Powered
Battery Powered is a member-founded, member-funded program made possible by Michael and Xochi Birch and the philanthropy team at Amplifier Strategies. It is designed to help members explore themes, share ideas and activate their generosity to spark lasting change. To celebrate our first year together, we’ve set our sights on reaching our lucky number: 7 x 700. That’s a goal of raising $7 million for leading organizations and reaching 700 members. We can’t wait for you to join us. Get in touch with [email protected] to get started.
About the Theme: Early Childhood Education
This fall we are focused on a single, ambitious vision: to invest in promising Bay Area based strategies that give every child the best possible start to life.
As we take a deep dive into our theme of Early Childhood Education, we will see the practical, attainable and vital role we can take. Investing in children provides a societal return on investment that grows through a person's lifetime and continues for generations to come. Together we're exploring how children gain a strong start in life when they are learning in Healthy Environments, gain early Literacy Skills, and have different ways of understanding the world around them through Experiential Learning opportunities. This theme runs September through December 2015. Learn more at www.thebatterysf.com/giving/theme/2015T3