ASHLAND — A new organization in the area has one main goal: to support quality preschool education.

Norma Meek, lead captain for Boyd and Greenup counties’ Generations United Seniors4Kids, said the group is recruiting men and women older than 50 to be Captains for Kids, or members of the group who serve as advocates. There are no membership fees or donations required.

“We don’t have a set number (a goal for membership),” Meek said. “There are so many different ways you can help. You can be very active and be a spokesperson and speak to community groups, or you can be a friend to the group.”

By being a friend, she said you can help educate others about the need for quality preschool education in a casual way, simply by initiating informed discussion.

Seniors4Kids is a part of Generations United, which addresses a variety of children’s issues, Meek said; Seniors4Kids focuses on preschool education. Funding comes from a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts; GU received the grant.

Mary A. Musgrave, Kentucky state coordinator, said Seniors4Kids only comes into a state that demonstrates academic excellence.

“The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence is the reason (the organization is in Kentucky),” she said. “They won’t come to a state unless they know something outstanding is happening.”

Meek said quality preschool education creates a good foundation for future learning and tends to ensure success later in life. Material from Seniors4Kids reveals:

‰Children who attend quality pre-kindergarten programs perform better on standardized tests, need fewer special education services, are less likely to repeat a grade and more likely to graduate from high school.

‰Children who attend quality pre-kindergarten programs are less likely to commit crimes and become teen parents.

‰Adults who attended pre-k programs as children are more likely to be employed and earn higher incomes.

‰Pre-k programs produce a more competitive and capable future workforce and promote long-term fiscal stability and solvency of Social Security.

However, the organization also shows Kentucky’s funding for pre-k programs is below the national average and that only 43 percent of the state’s 3- and 4-year-olds attend pre-k programs; that figure is just 36 percent in Appalachian areas.

Musgrave said the military and the business community have become involved in trying to expand and improve pre-k education because the pool of recruits and of potential employees is not up to the quality required.

“Seventy-five percent of the military recruitment pool is not qualified educationally, and that’s nationally, not just in Kentucky,” Musgrave said. “The military started Mission Readiness with the goal of getting high-quality pre-k education for 3- and 4-year-olds.

“The business sector got involved because workforce skills are not that good and education has to be better because of technology,” she said. Improving early childhood education is critical for competing in the world market, too.

“A lot of people think education and they think only K through 12, but that’s got to change,” Musgrave said. “Our state and our country are way behind now because other parts of the world start their education at 3 years old.” She said state funding must be provided or the federal government won’t provide any funding.

In Ashland, Meek said pre-k programs offered by churches and the Ashland Area YMCA are a good beginning.

“We’re not reaching all of our students by any means,” she said. “But we have a nice, strong, quality base.” She said she would like to see an increase in pre-school opportunities and kindergartens extending from half days to full days.

The next step in establishing Seniors4Kids in the area will be to send data to the main office in Washington, D.C., and for Meek to participate in monthly telephone conferences. The first one will be in December, at which time Meek said she will learn what the next step at the local level should be.

She said the Ashland area is ideal for this cause.

“We are so fortunate in our community because of our population: We have a high population of people over 50 and we come from different backgrounds and most of us have personal experience as grandparents and everybody kind of knows everybody. We have a really tight-knit network and a strong desire to give back through all kinds of service organizations. What better cause than to be an advocate for future generations?”

LEE WARD can be reached at lward@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2661.