Public Engagement/Pre-K for All DC

In the spring of 2006, with D.C.’s mayoral and council races beginning to take shape, CityBridge Foundation supported the national organization Pre-K Now in their launch of Pre-K for All DC, a campaign to promote universal high-quality pre-k for all three- and four-year-olds in the city.

Before the elections in November, the campaign:

• Enlisted an array of pre-k champions from the child care, educational, and business communities,
• Commissioned a study showing how much an investment in pre-k would yield in savings in education, crime, and health,
• Developed an “e-campaign” network to communicate key messages to the public and generate a wave of e-mail messages to city leaders.

Pre-K for All DC has met with initial success: The winning candidates for the three most important city-wide offices—the mayor, the chair of the city council, and the chair of the school board—made universal pre-k a priority. The campaign placed the issue of high-quality early childhood education on the city’s agenda during a decisive shift in the city’s political landscape.

For more information about Pre-K Now, click here.   For more information about Pre-K for All DC, click here.

CityBridge/Pre-K Now Grant: $150,000