How were the four target areas chosen to fight the dropout problem?
The four target areas chosen by sponsors of the Children’s Fund Initiative are: (1) Early Childhood Learning; (2) Child Abuse and Neglect; (3) Child Mentoring: and (4) Strengthening After-School Programs. They were chosen based on several factors: ! A Spokane area community-wide summit in April of 2009, attended by more than 300 participants, concluded that these four focus areas are critical to solving the dropout problem. ! National Research shows that these four focus areas will have the most impact on academic success, behavioral changes, and school attendance. ! Independent polling conducted earlier this year in Spokane reinforced the importance of these target areas in fighting the dropout problem. !
