Montgomery County has a tradition of commission members becoming champions for specific issues that can be supported with the county\u2019s human services levy. As ReadySetSoar and its local partners began exploring how to expand high-quality early learning in the county a few years back, Lieberman stepped up to become the champion for the cause.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy path through my life and career has always been about social justice and working on issues of poverty and opportunity,\u201d said Lieberman, a University of Dayton Law School graduate who worked with the local Legal Aid Society on her way to a career in county government. \u201cWhen you really look at what works to take on poverty, it all comes back to education and doing all we can to support children to succeed from the very start of their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lieberman dug into the research on the payoffs of quality preschool, and she traveled with Lightcap and other local partners to Denver to see firsthand how it moved forward with plans for universal preschool. She was the key force in asking a committee of 25 civic leaders and community members to investigate how Montgomery County could pursue a significant expansion of preschool. After the committee issued its recommendations to the county commission in November 2015, Lieberman and her two colleagues voted unanimously to move forward with the demonstration project and approve the county\u2019s contribution.<\/p>\n

As a result of Lieberman\u2019s hard work and advocacy, a county that 10 years ago spent no public monies on preschool now is putting a stake in the ground and investing real resources behind a plan aimed at increasing access to high-quality early learning. \u201cIn the end, it wasn\u2019t really a tough sell with the commission because the recommendations and the plan are so data-driven and are based on evidence of what works,\u201d said Lieberman.<\/p>\n

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Moving to scale<\/h3>\n

The demonstration project will further expand access to quality preschool in suburban Kettering and a lower-income community in Dayton. The effort is focused on three \u201cpillars of success\u201d that emerged from the work of the 25-member committee that recommended the expansion: educating the community about the power of preschool; expanding the availability of high-quality preschools; and assisting families in finding and paying for preschool. In the course of the two year-initiative, ReadySetSoar and its local partners hope to learn more about what works in each of these three areas.<\/p>\n

As they prepare to launch the demonstration project, Lieberman and ReadySetSoar still have their eyes on the prize of \u201cpreschool for all,\u201d which they hope to start implementing throughout the county in 2018. Lieberman is in regular conversations with her colleagues on the commission, as well as other local leaders, about raising the resources from the county and other donors to achieve the goal spelled out in the steering committee report: increasing the proportion of children in the county who attend a high-quality preschool in the next 10 years from 35 percent to 70 percent. This would mean moving about 2,250 four-year-olds into high-quality programs.<\/p>\n

Lieberman said the county will likely have to seek new financial resources in order to meet its portion of the costs for the countywide expansion. \u201cI think there is real support for moving forward,\u201d said Lieberman. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to be easy, but nothing this important ever is.\u201d<\/p>\n

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