Early-stage scholarships offer tremendous benefits, not only for recipients, but also for their communities. In Part One of this series, we explored the direct benefits for early education scholarship recipients, including reduced criminal activity, fewer teenage pregnancies, and better employment rates. These outcomes create a more sustainable and healthy community environment. By investing in youth, SKIpgo is investing in everyone.
2013 SKIpgo scholars
“The young ladies of SKIpgo will grow to become the leaders of their communities, to be civic-minded women, to prioritize education,” Shyam says. “Our investment in them is also an investment in the long-term future of their community.”
Aside from social improvements, investments in early-stage education produce immense fiscal returns for the community. In James J. Heckman’s seminal paper on human capital and early childhood education, he found that the cost-benefit ratio for the Perry Pre-school program was significant: through age 27 for each participant, the program returned approximately $6 for every dollar spent. When the returns are projected for the remainder of the participants’ lives, the return on each dollar increases to almost $9. Some scholars argue that this is actually a low estimate, as it only incorporates the costs saved by the government, including welfare and incarceration costs. It does not incorporate the costs saved by society or by individual families.
At SKI Charities, we believe that everyone should have a fair chance at a successful future, regardless of the a family’s economic background or status. In a recent prominent study by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, researchers determined that high-quality childcare diminishes the effect of income on a child’s success. High quality early childhood education, like what our SKIpgo scholars receive, can also help people overcome the immense poverty that, often, their families have endured for generations.
By investing in youth from these communities, SKIpgo is shaping tomorrow’s leaders. With a quality education, these girls will grow to promote community-mindedness and civic engagement. They will be devoted to building safe, healthy families, and to building a future for the next generation. In so doing, their personal investment in community will far exceed SKI Charities’ initial investment.
