First in Future: Transylvania County Commissioner Page Lemel

Summary: Next month the Institute for Emerging Issues will be launching KidsReadyNC, a four-county Tier 1 and Tier 2 focus on early childhood education.This initiative is an 18-month effort to help selected Tier 1 or Tier 2 communities strengthen the capacity of their local early childhood development systems. Communities will be asked to select a NC Pathways to Grade-Level Reading (“Pathways”) measure of success as the focus of their work. Selected communities will receive tools, technical assistance and participate in a peer learning process, all designed to boost capacity and improve outcomes. IEI was inspired by Transylvania County in building the effort and this week we talk to Page Lemel, vice chair of the Transylvania County Commissioners, on that inspiration and the power of collaboration.

Excerpt:

What key issues should we be working on within the next couple of years to make North Carolina a better place?“Investing in our little children and providing them with the skills to be resilient and make good choices for themselves, help their families and become productive adult citizens.”

What do we need to focus on to be ready for the next 20 years? “Coaching people through a change of tangible product production to more life style production.” 

Listen to the podcast: