MADISON (WKOW) -- Dane County is setting up a new program designed to help young children start down the right educational path.
The county is partnering with United Way of Dane County to launch the Leopold Early Childhood Zone.
It'll serve families living in the Leopold Elementary School neighborhood in Madison and Fitchburg.
The program will offer resources to help prepare children for school from the time they're born through four-year-old kindergarten. Staff members will also help parents find jobs if they need them.
The zone will be included in County Executive Joe Parisi's 2013 budget, to be introduced on October 1st. The proposal expands the county's successful Early Childhood Initiative (ECI) to help more families, and partners it with the United Way's Parent-Child Home Program to comprehensively help kids.
"Through this new collaboration, we will help kids have a successful start in life and care for them until they walk through the doors to their four-year old kindergarten classroom," said Parisi. "Stability at home helps kids succeed in school. It's an early investment to fight the achievement gap and a way county government can step forward to be part of the community's solution to the challenges in our schools."
The total program will cost $150,000. The county will contribute $60,000. The United Way will contribute $60,000, with the project drawing an additional $30,000 in federal dollars the county will secure.
