Mississippi’s non-profit Mississippi News has taken on the role of a chamber of commerce that deals with two seemingly unrelated issues: early education and childcare. The annual Capital Day of the Mississippi Economic Council, where business leaders met with legislators about crucial issues in Mississippi, was attended by panelists. First, working parents need somewhere they can leave their children while they work. Panelists stated that second, for an educated workforce to be able to work together and turn up on time, they must learn how to communicate, communicate, and master timeliness early in their lives. Katharine Stevens of the American Enterprise Institute said, “Childcare” is where most children spend the most time when their development is at its most crucial stage. “Childcare provides a pivot point for a two generation approach that moves whole families forward at the same time.” Mississippi has an increasing number of sites across the state to offer quality education to children as young as four years old. The Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013, which provides funding for communities to support and establish quality early childhood education and services, is the Early Learning Collaborative Act of 2013. The Mississippi Department of Education announced five additional collaboratives in December. This brings the total number of collaborations to 19, serving 3,200 children during the 2019-20 schoolyear. Stevens stated to the group that education must begin at birth. Stevens stated, “The achievement gap does not originate in the schools and cannot be closed by them.” Scientists are concluding that children’s early brain development, especially from birth to three years old, sets the foundation for all future development. Businesses were encouraged by Stevens to contact local career technical education teachers to find out how they could help build a pipeline. Caitlin Codella is senior director of policy and program at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation Centre for Education and Workforce. “Early childhood education has been a major obstacle to employment for (businesses’) incumbent workforce and future workforce,” she said. Laurie Smith, executive director at the State Workforce Policy Board gave details about a $10.6 million federal grant to support early childhood education. Phil Bryant made the announcement earlier in the month. She said that the funds will be used to expand on the state’s early child development plan. She said that the funds will be used to expand the state’s early childhood plan.