By Andy Furman
NKyTribune reporter
Invest early. Those were the first words uttered by Sandra Woodall to the Covington Rotary Club this week.
And, Woodell is not even a banker – she is the CEO/Executive Director of EC Learn – a local child care resource and referral network.
“We provide comprehensive services by training early childhood professionals, educate families about early childhood development, and partnering with community partners and advocates for children and families to have access to quality, affordable early learning experiences they deserve,” she said.
EC Learn founded four years ago, serves Boone, Bourbon, Campbell, Carroll, Gallatin, Grant, Harrison, Kenton, Owen, Nicholson, Pendleton, and Scott counties.
In the Salt River Region, EC Learn has employers in Anderson, Franklin, Henry, Oldham, Shelby, Spencer, Trimble, and Woodford counties.
“EC Learn,” Woodall told the Northern Kentucky Tribune, “inspires and equips families, early childhood professionals, and community leaders to prioritize early childhood experiences for all Kentucky children.
“We believe a quality early childhood experience lays the foundation for success in school and life.”
But what exactly does EC Learn accomplish?
“We train early childhood staff to be professional brain builders through continuing education and certification,” Woodall said, “and provide families with the information and tools to find quality, affordable child care.”
EC Learn also partners with business to support their employees in finding quality child care options.
“Our daily early learning experiences,” she said, “lead to success in life. Quality early childhood experiences provide the foundation for success not only in school, but in life.”
Access to affordable, quality child care is essential for employee retention and a thriving workforce, she added.
In fact, Woodall was asked how the COVID epidemic changed child care in the workplace.
“About 100,000 women in Kentucky left the workforce after COVID hit,” she said. “The workforce was broken. We went back to numbers we saw in the ‘80s.”
She stressed that early childhood professionals are not babysitters – they are brain builders and deserve quality pay and training opportunities. Investing in that workforce, she explained is a three-step process: Empower, Engage, Elevate.
“We empower by identifying and responding to child care recruitment needs,” she said, “and create partnerships between businesses and the child care industry.”
She said engaging is simply connecting business to community and elevating is educating why early and quality experiences are important to a child’s learning growth. In fact, she added, through employer services, EC Learn connects employees to licensed and certified child care programs.
“We do have start-up grants to help small business,” Woodall said. “Early child care and our daily learning experiences can lead to life-long success.”
The investment has a lifelong impact not only on the children, but on families and early childhood professionals that EC Learn serves.