The Economic Impact of Seeds of Learning

Posted by Sam Pittmon
 
 
Lisa Peters introduced the concept of the economic impact of early childhood education referring to the fact that Seeds makes it possible for parents to be able to maintain a job without worrying about child care. Child care is a top priority of Pagosa's town and county administration. Working parents can drop their kids off at Seeds on the way to work and pick them up on the way home.
 
She stated that there are about 600 kids in Pagosa that are between the ages  30 months to five years old and these are the ages of the kids served by Seeds. She explained how important early childhood education is for these kids and pointed out that a child’s brain is 85% developed by the age of 5. It’s been shown that kids that don’t have early childhood education fall behind.
 
A study of 40 year old adults find that those with early childhood education have economic advantages like a reduced cost to society, lower incarceration rates and there is a 7-13% return on investment.
 

Lynn Bridges explained the history of Seeds in Pagosa Springs. In February of this year Seeds celebrated its 20th year anniversary. Seeds originally was established to help pregnant unwed teenager and to serve disadvantaged families and kids providing high quality education. Seeds now has 60 kids enrolled and has a waiting list. There is no screening criteria for admission. 75-85 % of the children enrolled are considered at risk. Risk factor include but not limited to poverty and domestic violence.

Financially Seeds is a stand alone nonprofit organization that does not get any government funding. Each of the 60 students tuition is 52.00 dollars per day. The average student’s family pays 32.00 per day. There is a sliding scale pay schedule based on ability that is supplemented by donated funds, grants and fund raising efforts. Yearly operating budget is approximately $650,000.00. Seventy six percent of that pays teacher salaries. A recent fun raising activity called Dancing with the Pagosa Stars raised $120,00.00. It was notable that tickets for this event sold out in one hour. A repeat is already scheduled for next year.

Seeds was accredited by the National Association for Education of Young Children in February 2011 and again in 2016. This is significant since less than 10% of children programs are accredited.  Since Seeds began, hundreds of family member have been able to work and hundreds of children have been served. Seventy-five percent of Seeds graduates perform at level of non at risk kids. At Seeds, every child is assessed within the first 30 days of enrolling. Based on assessment each child get an individual learning program and is evaluated and lesson plans are adjusted every week.  All Seeds teachers have degrees and certification. There are therapist available for speech and occupational therapy.  The Dinosaur School Project is utilized at Seeds that teaches kids social interactions skills and conflict management skills which is very important.

In closing Lynn stated that there are thousands of success stories realized from Seeds of Learning programs.