Mayor Greg Fischer today announced Leanne French as the city’s inaugural Director of Early Childhood Development.
In her new role, French will engage with community stakeholders to increase high quality learning opportunities for local children, thereby increasing their likelihood for school successes and providing greater employment opportunities for parents and guardians.
“Louisville has a vested interest in ensuring that families with young children have access to quality early care. This provides stability for parents’ employment and learning experiences for young children that lay the groundwork for lifelong learning and wellbeing,” said the Mayor. “Leanne’s impressive tenure with our Public Health Department, coupled with her knowledge, connections and passion for improving community wellbeing, made her the right choice to accelerate our city’s work around enhancing early learning and childhood development.”
French has served in leadership roles at Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness since 2004, most recently as a Public Health Administrator since 2016, in a role that allowed her to hone her skills managing programs, grants and funding streams. Her six years of leadership with the Ready for K Guiding Team provided her a greater understanding of the challenges facing the early child care and education sector, including the need to improve quality and increase access for families, while also building staff skills and education through training and scholarship programs. She has successfully connected resources and supports from Public Health and Wellness to drive strategies, program and policy changes supporting early childhood development.
“I want to make Louisville the best place to raise a family – a place where partners are aligned and policies secure opportunities for all children to thrive from birth to age 5,” said French. “That vision, and my commitment to centering equity in the process, equip me to lead this work on behalf of my hometown.”
The focus on early learning and childhood development, and the new leadership role, are funded with $7.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds approved by the Louisville Metro Council in June as part of the fourth round of spending that also included investments in libraries, parks, pools and public health.
“As a mom of a preschooler and a toddler, I think about the importance of access to early learning opportunities every day. I am so thrilled that we will now have someone working to expand that access to every child in every neighborhood in our city. This position is the first time we will have a person in local government whose entire job is thinking about the well-being of our littlest kids and the families that take care of them. I believe that this work will change lives, transform families, and benefit our whole city,” said Councilwoman Cassie Chambers Armstrong, District 8.
Early screening data in Jefferson County show that children who stay home in the early years versus those who are enrolled in childcare, public preschool or a Head Start program are less likely to be ready for kindergarten. Yet, Louisville lost approximately 10% of its childcare capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This greater intentional focus on early learning and childhood development is designed to address that challenge, while also providing Louisville an opportunity to repair a fragmented early care and learning ecosystem that has led to inequities.
French holds a M.S. in Public Health, B.S. in Community Health and A.S. in Health Administration from Western Kentucky University. She also is a Kentucky Public Health Leadership Institute Fellow with the University of Kentucky. Her first day in her new role is today, Monday, October 10, 2022.
