It’s that time of year. The holiday season brings out the philanthropist in many of us.
Holiday cheer often translates into checks written to all types of worthy causes in our local community. However, will the donation you make while your stocking is hung by the chimney with care make a long-term difference to your business or your neighborhood in five, 10 or even 20 years? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that you are not just donating to a charity, but also investing in the future success and vitality of your community?
We have heard it a million times, “The children are our future.” It is a statement that is easy to believe, but it is hard to quantify. Now, more than ever, local, state and national data prove that an investment in high-quality, evidence-based early interventions for disadvantaged, vulnerable children pays a multitude of dividends for years to come.
Poverty is the single greatest threat to the long-term well-being of a child, and 37 percent of children in Hampton Roads live in or near the federal poverty level.
One of the most effective strategies for meaningful change in these families is home visiting programs, such as those offered by the Children’s Health Investment Program (CHIP) of South Hampton Roads.
Motivated to improve their lives and the lives of their children, parents voluntarily agree to work with trained professionals to increase their knowledge and skills of effective parenting. After all, parents are their children’s first and most influential teachers.
Children don’t stay children for long: They grow up and enter the workforce. The competitive global marketplace requires that we pay attention now to meet the workforce demands for future economic success. Current research shows that the learning and development that occur in a child under the age of 5 have a strong impact on later outcomes, including those skills needed to be a productive employee.
Starting from birth, children learn not only necessary cognitive skills, but also critical social and emotional skills, such as problem-solving, perseverance and cooperation.
According to Dr. James Heckman, Nobel laureate economist, “The longer society waits to intervene in the life of a disadvantaged child, the more costly it is to remediate disadvantage.“
Research also shows that home visitation programs achieve long-lasting outcomes − a smart investment for donors and their communities. According to the Virginia Home Visiting Consortium, home visiting programs generate a return on investment of up to $5.70 for every dollar invested, a return of more than $41,000 per family served, resulting in savings throughout the public sector.
For example, pregnant women enrolled in home visitation programs are twice as likely to deliver a healthy-birth-weight child. With the average hospitalization cost of over $15,000 for a pre-term or low-birth-weight delivery, taxpayers realize a demonstrated cost savings for an infant covered by Medicaid through a decrease in the average number of days spent in a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit.
Savings can also be seen in the reduction of child neglect and abuse cases, foster care services or placement, schools’ special education and remediation costs, and criminal justice and public assistance expenses.
Of course, it would be impossible to impact the life of a child without addressing the challenges faced by the parents. Parenting is hard enough under the best of circumstances, but when parents are faced with issues associated with chronic, generational poverty, such as low educational attainment, family violence, substance abuse and mental illness, quality parenting requires expert guidance and professional support. The end goal is self-sufficient, well-equipped parents who are able to raise healthy children, who enter kindergarten ready to learn and succeed – in school and in life.
Simply stated, home visiting is the gift that keeps on giving: It strengthens the human infrastructure of Hampton Roads, providing a foundation for all citizens to become healthy and contributing members of our local businesses and the community.
Trish O’Brien is president and CEO of the Children’s Health Investment Program (CHIP) of South Hampton Roads. She can be reached at (757) 543-9100 or tobrien@chipshr.org.