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Fall 2004 Newsletter
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Why Invest in Our Youngest Citizens?
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 In this election season, hearing constantly about the
importance of “values” prompted me to reread the values
statement our foundation prints each year in our annual
report. For those who skip that and turn immediately to the
stories of grantees and donors that Sally Hartman, director
of communications, tells so well, let me restate one value I
want to highlight: We believe that focusing on education and
healthy families as the foundation for individual success and
community vitality is our priority.
Common sense and countless studies tell us that quality
education and supportive families are the keys to putting
children on the road to success. For more than 50 years the
Foundation has provided scholarships for college and graduate
students. We are always moved when former recipients let us
know the difference our scholarships made in their lives.
More recently we have focused on making sure all our region’s
children enter school ready to succeed so they too can go on
to higher education and good paths in life. One recent
example is a $90,000 matching grant to the United Way of
South Hampton Road’s Raising a Reader program. This fall the
program will be in all Head Start centers in South Hampton
Roads providing new books for 1,800 children to share with
their families.
The Foundation will continue to invest heavily in school
readiness efforts. One reason is that one in five children in
our region enters kindergarten lacking critical skills.
Despite the best efforts of our school systems, many children
will not catch up. Instead, they will become discouraged and
drop out of school, which can lead to low wages, high rates
of teen pregnancy and other social problems. Long-term losses
to our economy include decreased income tax revenues, higher
welfare dependence and increased delinquency, crime and
incarceration.
 On October 12 we will have an opportunity to learn more about
the staggering cost of our failure to invest early in our
youngest citizens. The Foundation, in partnership with the
Economics Club of Hampton Roads and Voices for Virginia’s
Children, will present the second annual Community Matters
luncheon. Our speaker will be Rob Grunewald, regional
economic analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
and co-author of “Early Childhood Development: Economic
Development with a High Public Return.”
Through research Grunewald quantifies the economic return for
dollars spent on early childhood programs. He concludes that
the investment yields “extraordinary” results. One Michigan
preschool program, for example, provides a whopping 16
percent real internal rate of return. When we look at the
choices that governments make with public dollars, such as
subsidizing shopping malls, entertainment centers and
corporate relocations, we must ask where we get the better
payback. Can a new shopping mall reduce crime, increase
earnings and break a chain of poverty as effectively as a
preschool program?
A value is defined as “a principle, standard or quality
considered worthwhile or desirable.” At The Norfolk
Foundation we believe that investing in early childhood
education and healthy families is worthwhile from both a
human and an economic perspective. Join us on October 12 to
learn more about this important investment.
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For more information on Community Matters visit
www.norfolkfoundation.org
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