Campaign for Early Learning
A letter from our Co-Chairs
The Ounce of Prevention Fund has an ambitious vision for the future: to redefine the way our country thinks about education. Learning begins at birth; sadly, for many infants born into poverty, the achievement gap begins shortly thereafter.
High-quality early intervention programs are proven to have lasting impact on the life prospects of children in poverty. With intervention, we can significantly narrow the achievement gap that puts an impoverished child an average of 18-months behind his more affluent peers by age four.
85% of a child's brain growth occurs by age three, yet our country spends only 5% of public education dollars on a child's first three years.
The Ounce invests in the first five years of a child's life to ensure that young children in poverty have the best opportunity to succeed in school and throughout life. Over the past 25 years, we have helped to establish Illinois as a leader among states' efforts to improve opportunities for our most vulnerable children. The Ounce uses public funds to implement the innovative programs it develops, but only private capital investment can be used for research, program development and advocacy to further our impact.
Our $15 million Campaign for Early Learning will endow our innovative programs and fund our ambitious plans to convince more politicians, philanthropists, and opinion leaders that directing education dollars toward the earliest years, beginning even in the weeks surrounding birth, is both the wisest investment and surest way to shift the odds for our most vulnerable children.
Your support of the Campaign for Early Learning will help to ensure that infants and toddlers born into poverty have the best opportunity for success in school and life.
 Co-Chair Diana Mendley Rauner |
 Co-Chair J.B. Pritzker |