By Brenda Brissette-Mata

Long before she knew about any of the studies on early childhood or read the research on brain development, Harriet Meyer recalled the moment she came to believe that improving opportunities for low-income children during the earliest years is the best way to strengthen the economy.

“My husband and I were thinking about social justice issues and actually read an article in the Wall Street Journal that talked about the importance of getting to children early and it made sense to both of us, “ she said.

Today, Meyer is a national leader on early childhood investment, former president of the storied Ounce of Prevention Fund advocacy organization based in Chicago, and is credited with helping to make Illinois the first state in the country to offer quality preschool for all 3- and 4-year olds. Meyer will present the keynote address at the annual Great Start Conference March 14-16 at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center in East Lansing. More than 400 people are expected at the conference where Meyer will share her intense passion for and knowledge of early childhood. 



Shortly after reading that article 25 years ago, Meyer began a quest to find others working in early childhood. She credits Irving B. Harris, Chicago corporate leader, philanthropist and long-time advocate for early childhood, with leading her along the path that would become her life’s work.

“I met Irving here in Chicago while I was volunteering at Family Focus with Bernice Weissbourrd.” Family Focus is one of the nation’s flagship family support programs and Weissbourrd its founder.

After meeting Harris, Meyer became the volunteer construction manager for the Beethoven Project, a Harris Foundation-funded family support program for young families with infants and toddlers operating in the Robert Taylor Homes public housing development in Chicago.

She soaked up the passion of her mentors, Weissbourrd and Harris, both of whom had been working in early childhood for years.

“I felt that I was a latecomer because the behaviorists had been working aggressively (on early childhood) for 30 years before that,” Meyer said. But she began to study and learned “so much about brain development and early childhood that from there, I never looked back.”

“It just made so much sense. We can’t wait to help children be ready for success in school until the day before kindergarten. The work begins long before.”

Meyer is credited with leading the push in Illinois to expand preschool opportunities and investments in early childhood. Nationally, she served on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee that created the country’s Early Head Start program.

After 20 years as president of the Ounce, Meyer is now leading strategic initiatives there and works with advocacy groups across the nation to improve early childhood programs and policies.

“We have to do a much better job communicating about the importance of early childhood,” she said. “We need professional development; we need better programming. We need a lot of stuff. It’s a field still very much in its early childhood, but no longer in its infancy.”

Meyer said it is imperative to have a birth to 5 approach with diverse delivery systems. “It can’t be child care one year and health care another. We have to have an agenda that has to meet everyone’s needs.”

In addition to Meyer, the conference will feature Donna Beegle, author of “See Poverty, Be the Difference” and founder of the Poverty Bridge. A nationally renowned speaker and president of Communication Across Barriers, Beegle grew up in poverty, married at age 15 and found herself, at age 25, a single mom with two children and no job skills or education. In the following decade, she earned a G.E.D., a degree in Journalism, both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Communications and also completed a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership at Portland State University.

Beegle has dedicated her life to helping others in poverty learn how to change their lives. For the conference she will focus on helping participants understand the impact of poverty and offer effective strategies for working with people in poverty.

Timothy J. Bartik, author and senior economist at the Kalamazoo-based Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, will talk about his latest book, “Investing in Kids: Early Childhood Programs and Local Economic Development.” The book presents the evidence that high-quality early childhood programs provide local economic development.

Bartik earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a master’s and doctoral degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In addition to notable speakers, the conference will feature Learning Labs focused on quality child care, how to use data in early childhood, the success of Oakland County Great Start Collaborative's Parent Cafe model and an in-depth look at how to promote public awareness of social-emotional health at the state and local level.