More than 45,000 people have already “liked” Hillary Clinton’s “Too Small to Fail” initiative launched Oct. 3 on Facebook, which aims to help parents, caregivers, communities and businesses promote brain development, early learning, and early health through the use of evidence-based research for children from birth to age 5.
The New York-based Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, a nonprofit, partnered with the San Francisco-based Next Generation, also a nonprofit, to develop a campaign “blueprint” laying bare the need to prioritize early development.
An emphasis will be two pronged: Families will be educated as to the power of good nutrition and quality time with children; businesses will be asked to consider offering family-friendly policies that support such activities.
The first order of business is to shine a light on the so-called “word gap,” a statement from the foundations said.
“Studies have found that by age 4, children in middle and upper class families hear 15 million more words than children in working-class families, and 30 million more words than children in families on welfare,” Clinton wrote in an op-ed that accompanied the campaign roll out. “This disparity in hearing words from parents and caregivers translates directly into a disparity in learning words. And that puts our children born with the fewest advantages even further behind.”
To learn more about the initiative, click here.