Karen
Ponder: A Champion for Childcare
by Greer Beaty
In every organization,
behind every worthy cause, there are people who are dedicated
and work with great passion for the greater good. Karen
Ponder is one such person. Her work has improved
the lives of families across North Carolina and has been
instrumental in helping hundreds of thousands of children
start school with the skills they need to be successful.
Karen
Ponder is one of the people who created and expanded Smart
Start, North Carolina’s nationally
recognized early care and education system. It
has been so successful since its inception that other
states have sought to duplicate its model.
Today, Ponder is the president and chief executive officer
of the North Carolina Partnership for Children,
the non-profit agency that oversees and gives technical
support to Smart Start local partnerships across the state.
Ponder
did not begin her professional career considering the
national impact her work would have. “I
began my professional career as a preschool teacher. Through
this experience working with young children and their
families, I learned how critical the early years are in
laying a child’s foundation for the future,”
she said.
After teaching and
directing early childhood programs, Ponder
co-founded Childhood Enrichment Associates, a consulting
company designed to help improve the quality of early
childhood programs. But she realized that
a broader approach was necessary if all North Carolina’s
children were to have the best chances. She then
joined the NC Department of Human Resources (now called
the Department of Health and Human Services) just before
Smart Start was created. With this move, Ponder
placed herself at the forefront of the new initiative,
which was the brainchild of former Governor Jim Hunt.
“As
the first program manager for Smart Start, I helped to
design and implement the program. Smart Start’s
oversight responsibilities were later moved to the North
Carolina Partnership for Children, Inc. and I became the
president in 1998.”
Ponder
endured the early years when there was little research
to support the vision, and many of Governor Hunt’s
political adversaries wanted to end the initiative before
it had a chance to begin. During those
years, Ponder also became increasingly involved on a national
level.
Her membership
in organizations like the National Association for the
Education of Young Children (NAEYC) gave her a chance
to learn and to be a part of the national effort. “Meeting
and working with early childhood leaders and experts from
across the county was the beginning of my vision of achieving
a larger mission,” says Ponder.
But Ponder has never
lost sight of the values that shaped her, or the family
that taught and nurtured those values. She
credits her strong family with providing for her the foundation
to become the leader she is today.
“Over my lifetime
I have observed people
who I considered to be effective leaders, particularly
my father, and have tried to emulate the
qualities that I observed. The
most important for me are a deep faith in God, a belief
in the worth and value of every person,
a willingness to listen to opposing views and the determination
to do whatever it takes to get the job done,” she
said.
“My parents
modeled that you support others, you give back to the
community through involvement and service. As a very young
child I was involved in opportunities to help others,”
said Ponder. “And
having children and watching their development made me
keenly aware of the importance of the early years and
the relationship between early experiences and learning.
This knowledge gave me the desire to help all children
have the best early childhood experiences possible.”
Once, when asked
about taking young children to volunteer at a shelter,
she responded, “Oh
yes, children will not grow up to care, if you don’t
give them a reason now,” reaffirming
the importance of modeling values to young children.
Ponder
says the greatest legacy of Smart Start is its engagement
of a broad local community around the needs of young children.
North Carolina was the first
state to take a statewide approach to early care and education.
Because of Smart Start, people in every county
are working to make sure that all children have opportunities
to be successful. Regardless
of funding, knowledge and awareness are forever ingrained
in North Carolina’s approach to young children.
Today, Smart
Start is intertwined with nearly all services in North
Carolina that serve young children and their families.
North Carolina is considered the national leader, so much
so that the National Smart
Start Technical Assistance Center was created with funds
from private foundations to respond to the requests for
assistance.
“We
were receiving literally hundreds and hundreds of calls,
and couldn’t provide the level of technical assistance
these other states wanted without creating a national
technical assistance center,” she
said. And major foundations agreed, most notably the Packard
Foundation and Carnegie Foundation, who stepped forward
with initial grants.
Today, research
proves that Smart Start is working for North Carolina’s
young children. In a study conducted by UNC-CH’s
Frank Porter Graham Development Institute, children
who were enrolled in early care and education settings
that received Smart Start support had better math skills,
better social skills and better language and preliteracy
skills. They are also more likely to have a primary
physician and are more likely to be immunized on time.
And yet Ponder still
has goals she is working to see accomplished. “The
greatest challenge for the future is to reach full funding
so that no child begins school without the best chance
to succeed,” she says with great passion.
Ponder continues
to be grounded by, and reenergized by, her family. “My
family helped shape the person that I am today. And sharing
my life with my husband, children and grandchildren gives
meaning to everything I do,” she
said.
A
grandmother of five, Ponder spends time with her grandchildren
(ages 14, 6, 5, 5, and 4) whenever possible. “Seeing
the world through their eyes and watching them develop
and grow—being a part of that development—is
the very best way for me to relax and get energy for the
work ahead,” Ponder added.
Because
Ponder is so connected to her family, and works so hard
to balance work and home, she is very aware of the challenges
facing families today.
“I am very
concerned about the fast-paced lives we live and the effect
this pace has on young children,” she added. Ponder
discussed a growing trend of families starting to push
their children at earlier and earlier ages, some even
hiring tutors or “preschool coaches.”
“I am very
concerned that children aren’t given time to blossom
before they are expected to bloom,” she said.
She is quick to
add that playtime is developmentally appropriate
for young children, and that children should be offered
the opportunity to grow and learn in the most natural
and appropriate ways.
“Pushing
children to grow up too fast is not in the children’s—or
society’s—best interests,” Ponder added.
So what is next
for Smart Start? Ponder maintains that a shift in the
way policy makers approach funding is critical.
“North
Carolina must continue to make young children our state’s
highest priority. Little children can’t wait until
the economy is better. Without support, many children
will grow up with challenges that cost more later in intervention,”
Ponder said.
Ponder
says she loves the work she does. She is committed to
the mission of Smart Start:
“That
every child in North Carolina will arrive at school healthy
and prepared for success.” She
added, “I believe
that the keys to a good life are building good relationships
and finding a cause that you feel passionate about—then
putting your heart and soul into achieving the mission.”
Smart
Start Facts:
