This is a guest post that appeared in the Lexington Herald Leader and the Courier Journal in Louisville by Helen Carroll, Manager for External Affairs
at Toyota Motor Manufacturing. She is a member of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence and Chair, United Way of Kentucky, Board of Directors.
Each month’s unemployment numbers help us gauge the strength of the state’s economy. Fortunately, many more Kentuckians are working now than last year or
during the peak of the recession. Unfortunately, our jobless rate still hovers around 8 percent, half a point above the national average.
Yet there’s also has an odd and costly contradiction. In Northern Kentucky, where Toyota is headquartered, a recent survey found nearly 700 manufacturing
jobs unfilled due to a lack of qualified workers. This figure is expected to exceed 6,000 - that’s right, 6,000 - in the next ten years. Lost to our region
and our state are high-paying jobs that help workers raise families, create profits for future investments, and make our country more competitive.
A key part of responding to this shortage is investing more in our young people, and doing so much earlier and much more intensively. Today’s employees
must possess far more complex cognitive and social skills than the workforce of a generation ago - and their acquisition starts at birth!
That’s not happening often enough. Last year the Kentucky Department of Education found that only
28 percent of children are arriving in kindergarten fully prepared. Children who lag their peers in number and letter recognition and in crucial character
skills like self-discipline, perseverance and cooperation are more likely to struggle throughout their school years and, as a result, be less prepared to
compete in the workforce.
Toyota recognizes the importance of kindergarten readiness to our future workforce and economic competitiveness. That’s why we joined the former CEO’s of
Macy’s and Proctor & Gamble, as well as with Dave Adkisson, president and CEO of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, and more than 300 business leaders from across the nation, to sign a letter declaring
support for increased federal investment in early education. The effort was led by ReadyNation, the early childhood project of America’s Promise Alliance.
High-quality early childhood programs can make a world or difference. Home visiting programs like Kentucky’s HANDS engage parents before their children are born, then support the health and development of
those young people up to the age of two. Home visiting has been proven to decrease low-birth weight and increase parent engagement in their child’s
development. Quality child care is another significant support for low-income working parents, helping provide the rich experiences a developing brain
needs. Similarly, public preschool helps ensure children from low- and moderate-income families come to school prepared for thrive.