By Janine Vanderburg, President/CEO

Two decades after our daughters started Mitchell Montessori, Denver Public Schools then magnet Montessori program, Jim and Maggie Barrett, Marshall and I sat together for breakfast last Sunday and ended up talking about Montessori early childhood education.

Why is this our Sunday brunch conversation? It’s not because we have grandchildren on the way.

As empty nester boomers, what we should be talking about our travels, mountain hikes, books and movies, right?

But all of us believe that early childhood education is the ultimate upstream strategy in community and social change. The statistics are incontrovertible: participation in high quality early childhood education improves educational and social outcomes for children, and has economic development benefits as well.

At JVA Consulting, we’ve always had a hand in what’s going on in early childhood education in Colorado. We’ve raised money for both public and private programs, conducted evaluations of early childhood programs, and helped to plan initiatives like Aspen Community Foundation’s Cradle to Career. In 2013, we completed a scan and report on the research and best practice programs for children “zero to three” for the Hemera Foundation.

And what all of that convinces us is simply this: the best investment in community and social change is investment in children at a very young age.

In 2006, Denver voters were really smart in approving a preschool tax, creating the Denver Preschool Program, which has resulted in over 30,000 Denver children being ready for kindergarten.

This November, extending and expanding that tax will be up in front of voters.

Why should we vote for it if we don’t have preschool age children?

Because it’s the best investment that any of us can make in ensuring that our city and state will continue to grow and thrive.