(Thinking of how much more relevant my note from Monday was in light of last night’s Amtrak crash. Below another note on something we need to invest in, or else we will see more crisis in it: early childhood education. My thoughts and prayers are with anyone affected by last night’s accident)
For the better part of a year, I worked for my local early childhood development nonprofit organization. This particular nonprofit housed HeadStart, Nurse-Family Partnership and a few other localized programs that provided resources for any and all parents of children ages 0-5 (and help with finding elder/adult care in our care referral division).
Initially, I didn’t think it had any relevance to what I wanted to do with The Black Urbanist and greater pursuits in urban and regional planning. However, I will say that to date, working in that environment and on that issue was my most rewarding job experience to date.
Although I’d been exposed to the educational system not just as a student, but having family members working as educators, I could now see how early childhood education affects the kinds of people we create and in turn buy homes, ride buses and trains and use parks.
What prompted these reflections? The National Institute for Early Education Research’s annual State of Preschool report. The report details how each state is doing with providing care and education for children before they start kindergarten.
If you want the short version, American Public Media’s Marketplace has that for you. Or, dig a bit deeper with the state level data for North Carolina.
And this is what you need to know about North Carolina for today, May 13, 2015. But that’s not all you need to know. Here are a few more things to note.
The state chapter of the NAACP, along with several other groups filed a public records request for the number voter registrations prompted by human service agencies. This is in response to complaints that public service agencies aren’t doing enough to help people get registered to vote.
Five Greensboro mayors came together to talk about issues past and present Monday evening.
Asheville won’t be buying police body cameras yet. The city wants a few more questions answered about how footage on them will be collected.
The City of Wilson and the N.C. League of Municipalities have filed friend of the court briefs at the Court of Appeals supporting a case involving the right of the City of Asheville to control its own water system and not the state. Both parties see this case as setting precedent on how the state government deals with local issues.
The quest for toll lanes on I-77 in the Charlotte area continues.
This Eastern North Carolina town has reduced the size of its police force and will lean on the county sheriffs department for help with law enforcement.
Several resort community home and landowners have filed suit against the owner of the communities, citing unfair business practices.
A debate is growing both inside and outside the General Assembly on whether or not deer farming should be expanded. A concern is with the development of a disease on farms that can spread to wild deer, among other issues.
And finally, the entire Wake County Transit Alternatives report, for your reading pleasure.
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