On June 9, 2011, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families held a hearing, “Getting the Most Bang for the Buck: Quality Early Education and Care” (video) where witnesses discussed the national importance of having comprehensive early education and care programs.
Witnesses included:
- Joan Lombard, Ph.D, Deputy Assistant Secretary and Inter-Departmental Liaison for Early Childhood Development, Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC;
- Dennis Hillian, Family Service Coordinator, The Charles County Judy Center, Waldorf, MD;
- Linda K. Smith, Executive Director, National Association of Child Care Resources & Referral Agencies, Arlington, VA;
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Arthur J. Rolnick, Senior Fellow and Co-Director of the Human Capital Research Collaborative, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN;
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Eva Tansky Blum , Senior Vice President and Director of Community Affairs, PNC Bank, Pittsburgh, PA; and,
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Charlie Mills, III , Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Salera Capital Management, Potomac Falls, VA.
The Early Ed Watch blog from the New America Foundation’s Early Education Initiative covered the hearing with its post Hearing Features Bi-Partisan Call for More Focus on Child Care and Early Ed. Early Ed Watch reports that “both Republican and Democratic Senators called on their colleagues to pay more attention to early education and care for young children and left open the possibility for a bi-partisan approach to new policies on childcare and education.”
