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Keiki: Who We Are
NĀ KEIKI
Keiki: What We Do

WHY INVEST IN THE EARLY YEARS?

All children deserve access to quality early education.  Investment in the early years affects all of us!

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We can address our health, education and economic issues—simultaneously and cost effectively.

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The Economics of Human Potential

Investing in quality early learning is the most efficient way to affect school and life success and to reduce social costs later, according to research by Prof. James Heckman, a Nobel laureate in economics from the University of Chicago.

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Benefits are shown for all groups and are greatest for the most at-risk children. Heckman’s research shows early interventions for this group “raise the quality of the workforce, enhance the productivity of schools and reduce crime, teenage pregnancy, and welfare dependency. They raise earnings and promote social attachment.”

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Heckman contends, “The real question is how to use available funds wisely. The best evidence supports the policy prescription: Invest in the very young.”  ~heckmanequation.org 

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BUILDING FAMILY SKILLS

Family engagement in the early years is linked to success in kindergarten and beyond by the Harvard Family Research Project.  

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Waikīkī Community Center Early Education focuses not only on the child but also on helping families become partners in the positive development of their children. We develop family skills that will benefit children throughout their education and lives.

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KEIKI BUILDING COMMUNITY

“...rubbish goes down the sewer into the ocean and the sea animals eat it and get sick.”

 

Classroom Mano chose to explore the effect of litter on our oceans as part of a ‘water’ theme for our Keiki Building Community (KBC) program. Students walked around the neighborhood picking up trash and used it for an educational mural. Then, to reduce trash, they created vertical gardens with single-use plastic bottles.

 

KBC is a service learning program unique to WCC preschool. Service learning is a proven teaching/learning strategy where children make connections between classroom learning and community issues.

Would you like to support our efforts?

Keiki: About Us
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CLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP

Every child deserves quality early learning. At-risk children who don’t receive high-quality early learning are...

  • More likely to drop out of school

  • More likely to become a teen parent

  • More likely to be placed in special education

  • More likely to never attend college

  • More likely to be arrested for a violent crime

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