Child-Centric Approach Is Blueprint To Improve Communities -- Virginia Tech

Communities can prosper by providing attentive education and social services to their youngest residents—but the challenge is for leaders to work together.

That is the message of Craig Ramey and Sharon Ramey, Virginia Tech distinguished research professors of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, who presented details of a decades-long study that focuses on early childhood education and development.

In a research article in the journal Medical Research Archives, the scientists discuss lessons learned from the Abecedarian Project, a study that followed the children who participated in an early intervention program initiated by Craig Ramey and colleagues in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1971.

"Coordinated education, health care, and well-thought-out social services with participation from the private sector make communities more attractive, bring in new business, and improve the quality of life for the people who are already there," said Craig Ramey, a founder of the Abecedarian Project "Each segment of the community has to be included in these efforts because it allows for the scale-up that needs to occur for places that aspire to be a more attractive destination for families and businesses."

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READ MORE: MedicalXpress