At the 2012 breakfast, attendees had a chance to mingle and hear from this year’s noted speaker, Rob Grunewald. Grunewald is an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and co-authored a ground-breaking study on the economic impact of Early Childhood Education.

Grunewald spoke about his own experience researching the importance of investing in children early, and what a huge difference this early-age intervention makes, noting that many of the neural connections in a child’s brain are firmly established by a very young age. He stated that quality programs, like those at Joyce Preschool, not only affect the child’s own education in an immediate way, but impact parent awareness and involvement, improve future education and success, and - most important when framed economically - benefit the community as a whole.

Guests at Investing in Our Future enjoyed a performance from the children in Maestra Carol’s class. The children sang “¿Cómo están?” and “ABC Disco.”