Children’s Institute is excited to introduce the Early Link Podcast with an interview with our president and CEO, Swati Adarkar. Focused on Oregon’s early learning system and the state’s new preschool program called Preschool Promise, the segment explores what’s happening as the program launches.

Preschool Promise is part of an effort to help Oregon change the trajectory for vulnerable children and families by offering free, full-day, high-quality preschool to families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold. Programs just came online last month, and Oregon now has 93 sites serving 1,300 children in 14 counties.

Children’s Institute, along with its partners, played a key role in passing the legislation in 2015 and is actively involved in looking at issues of implementation.

Swati Adarkar, president and CEO of Children’s Institute, has played a pivotal role in creating meaningful change for Oregon’s most vulnerable children. She has helped bring together public and private partners to create a groundswell of momentum around increasing investments in programs and systems spanning the prenatal through third-grade early learning continuum (P-3).