District of Columbia Early Care and Education Strategic Plan.

This report details the early care and education strategic plan for the District of Columbia. Following an executive summary, the report provides the rationale for developing an early care and education strategic plan and describes the process used to develop the plan. The top 10 early care and education issues in the district are then delineated and drafts of the vision and mission statements are presented. The proposed goal statements for the plan follow. The report then presents the citywide strategic plan--known as the Safe Passages program--as focusing on five major areas: (1) building and sustaining healthy neighborhoods; (2) assuring economic development; (3) making government work; (4) improving democratic practices in the district; and (5) ensuring that families, youth, and individuals are healthy and productive. The report next delineates selected goals and objectives of the Safe Passage Program as they relate to early care and education and early child development. It also provides an update on progress in meeting short-term objectives for early care and education in the district. The next steps in the strategic planning process are then delineated. The report concludes with a list of participants in the strategic planning process. (Contains a 16-item selected bibliography.) (KB)