Would you take this deal? Buy one year of college, get three more for no additional cost. A no-brainer, right? That’s similar to what happens when society invests in early childhood programs such as high quality child care, Head Start, Early Head Start, and home visiting programs. For every dollar spent, between two and four dollars are returned to the economy in various ways.

So says a new report released by the RAND Corporation, which studied the outcomes from 115 early education programs. Investing Early follows up on RAND’s 2005 review of early childhood programs. The report looks at a larger and more diverse set of early childhood interventions, including health-focused programs, community-based interventions, and programs that take a “two-generation approach” by working with children and their parents. Investing Early looks at the connections between early childhood programs and a broad set of individual and societal outcomes. It highlights health outcomes specifically and also evaluates the financial costs and benefits of investing in early childhood programs.

The 32^nd annual National Child Nutrition Conference is scheduled for April 19-21, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. Hosted by the National CACFP Sponsors Association, this conference brings together professionals in the child nutrition community for three days of learning and networking. Over 1,000 participants from nutrition, nonprofit, education, and child care organizations in all 50 states are expected to attend this year. In addition to expert panels and networking sessions, attendees can choose from more than 100 workshops to learn practical skills, discover new resources, and explore their interests. To help ensure that everyone who is interested and invested can attend, the National Child Nutrition Foundation has over $20,000 in scholarships available.

Every child deserves the chance to eat healthy food and play every day. Because 60 percent of children under age six spend much of their time in care outside of their homes, early care and education settings are important places for children to build healthy habits.