Early Childhood Development Town Hall Set for Cecil and Harford Counties on Tuesday, May 7

BALTIMORE – The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), Maryland Department of Health (MDH), and the Maryland Department of Human Services (MSDH), in partnership with Ready At Five and the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium (MAEC), will host the fifth of nine Regional Town Halls on Tuesday, May 7.

The town hall series focuses on the State’s early care and education system. This town hall is designed to engage the communities of Cecil and Harford Counties in a conversation about how to improve access to high-quality early childhood programs and services. Fewer than half of the students in Cecil and Harford Counties demonstrated school readiness on Maryland’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment last Fall. Both Cecil and Harford Counties are below the State average of 47% with 32% and 43% of students demonstrating readiness respectively. Research shows that high-quality opportunities, especially for children from low-income families, can help provide students with the skills and knowledge they need for success in school.

Meetings will be held both in the morning and evening at The Center for Educational Opportunity in Aberdeen.

“Our goal is to identify the needs of the Lower Shore communities from our most important partners: parents, caregivers, early childhood educators, policymakers, business leaders and other stakeholders,” said Steven Hicks, Assistant State Superintendent of Early Childhood Development. “Their insight into our greatest challenges and opportunities to building a well-coordinated and integrated early care and education system will help shape the future for children in Maryland.”

Maryland was recently awarded a Preschool Development Birth through Age Five (PDG B-5) Grant, a $10.6 million federal grant that will help states conduct a comprehensive statewide birth through five needs assessment followed by in-depth strategic planning. The grant also focuses on enhancing parent choice and expanding the current mixed-delivery system consisting of a wide range of provider types and settings, including child care centers and home-based child care providers, Head Start and Early Head Start, state pre-kindergarten, early intervention and special education services, and home visiting services across the public, private and faith-based sectors.

Representatives from the State, Ready At Five, MAEC and local child- and family-serving agencies will share updates on a variety of topics related to early childhood care and education, family supports, new data from Maryland’s Kindergarten Readiness Assessment, and opportunities through the new PDG B-5 grant. Each session will also include opportunities for the public to contribute to developing the State’s prenatal to age five needs assessment.

Feedback and findings from the town hall meeting will be used to develop and inform a new prenatal to age five strategic plan for Maryland by identifying significant needs and priorities. More information about the Regional Town Halls, including registration and handouts, as well as a community survey, can be found at https://earlychildhood.marylandpublicschools.org/townhalls.

Location:

The Center for Educational Opportunity in Aberdeen

253 Paradise Road

Aberdeen, MD 21001

Schedule:

Morning Session:
Registration 8:30 AM-9:30 AM
Program 9:30AM-11:30AM

Evening Session:
Registration 5:00PM-6:00PM
Program 6:00PM-8:00PM

Continental breakfast will be provided at the morning session registration, and a light dinner will be served at the evening session registration.