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Financial performance in business is critical but giving back in this community by supporting early childhood education in South Florida is equally important because it also delivers a significant ROI.
Over the last 18 years, PNC Bank has championed high-quality early childhood education through PNC Grow Up Great®, which provides tools and resources to help develop curious young minds. This work has grown into a $500 million initiative— understanding that the first five years of life represent one of the most critical times in a child's life. In fact, experts say that up to 90% of a child's brain develops by age five.
As a market leading bank, we do our best to connect with the communities we serve positively. To date, more than eight million children across the country have been supported through PNC's local grants and educational programming. Here are a few reasons why you should invest in our future too:
1. It narrows the achievement gap.
We know that gaps in knowledge and ability between children with little-to-no access to necessary resources and their more advantaged peers start to appear long before kindergarten, and those gaps tend to persist throughout life.
2. Early education boosts earnings.
A recent landmark, long-term study of the effects of high-quality early care and education on low-income 3- and 4-year-olds showed that children who attended high-quality preschool programs had 34% higher basic achievement at age 14. Also, 17% more graduated high school, 14% more were employed at age 40 and by that time their annual income was 20% higher than similar employees who did not e experience quality early learning opportunities as children.
3. parents income gets a bump too.
When children have access to good childcare, of which high-quality early childhood education is a key element, parents can go to work knowing their children are in a safe and nurturing environment. Prohibitively high costs and lack of access to childcare are forcing parents to make a difficult choice – either work and spend a high percentage of their income on childcare or give up work to stay home and provide care.
4. Investing in early education improves the economy.
The investment in early childhood education generates an economic return in the form of long-term family and societal cost savings by contributing to further improvements in child development and well-being, as well as decreased spending on social services. Without access to high-quality affordable care and education, workforce productivity and revenue decrease. In fact, one study found a $57 billion annual cost to the economy – or about $180 per person in the U.S. – due to child-care-related lost earnings, productivity, and revenue, including nearly $13 billion that employers shoulder due to workers' inability to access high-quality, affordable care.1
5. Support of future leaders is a solid investment.
With investments in high-quality early childhood education generating up to a 13% return2 on investment, this initiative is one of the best uses of our community investment dollars. Investing in high-quality early childhood education generates community benefits that help businesses, communities and the people who live in them. Those investment dollars also ultimately improve property values, provide cost savings for municipal school systems for K-12 education, reduced crime rates and a reduced reliance on government assistance, which helps entire communities thrive.
© 2022 The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Content Provided By: PNC Bank Southeast Florida
For More Info Contact: Cressman Bronson, PNC Regional President for Southeast Florida, 561-803-9831
1. https://www.strongnation.org/articles/780-want-to-grow-the-economy-fix-the-child-care-crisis
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