The David Mathews Center for Civic Life, based in Montevallo, Alabama, has released a 10-page report titled Minding Our Future: Investing in Healthy Infants and Toddlers. It is available as a free download. The report describes outcomes from public forums that were held from December, 2014 to March, 2016. The following is excerpted from the introduction to the report. You can read more about the project and download the report in a recent Mathews Center blog post.

In the summer of 2014, a diverse group of Alabamians gathered for the David Mathews Center’s Civic Institute to name and frame a deliberative issue guide on early childhood development in Alabama. Central to that discussion was the question of how parents, caregivers, communities, and institutions can better invest in the formative first three years of our youngest Alabamians’ lives.

Because we believe Alabamians should participate in defining public issues that affect them, these initial conversations formed the basis for the issue guide used during our December 2014 - March 2016 Alabama Issues Forums series titled “Minding Our Future: Investing in Healthy Infants and Toddlers.” This report is based on the intensive analysis of post-forum questionnaires, recorded notes, and program evaluations from that forum series.