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Speaking at HIPPY USA's 25th anniversary dinner, Hillary Clinton said early childhood education has an important link to brain development.

Hillary Clinton said she's honored to be known as a "hippy" mom and soon to be a "hippy" grandma.

That's not a take on her lifestyle, but rather her longtime involvement with the organization Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, or HIPPY.

[READ: Access to Preschool Won't End the Literacy Problem in America, Experts Say]

Clinton gave the keynote address Monday night at the 25th anniversary dinner for the group, which promotes early childhood education and provides resources for parents to better educate and interact with their children at home before they begin kindergarten. Clinton helped establish the first HIPPY program in Arkansas three years before HIPPY USA was formally organized. The group was focused on early childhood development and learning "before it was popular," Clinton said. HIPPY now operates in 21 states and the District of Columbia.

"It is now wonderful to see so many people in so many walks of life talking about early childhood, talking about the importance of parents, particularly mothers, as a child's first teacher, and you're a big part of that," Clinton told the 300 attendees. "The reason that so many from elected officials to economists to education experts all over the country are finally catching on is because the evidence has become so compelling."

And Clinton's advocacy for early childhood education hasn't stopped since she helped bring HIPPY to the Natural State. Through the Clinton Foundation, the former first lady launched her "Too Small to Fail" campaign, which encourages parents to read, talk and sing to their children to help them learn more words at a younger age. Children who come from low-income families, Clinton said during her speech, learn 30 million fewer words on averagethan children from more affluent families.

[ALSO: Hillary Clinton Pushes Early Childhood Development]

One of the biggest obstacles Clinton said she faced in promoting HIPPY was convincing mothers that talking, reading and singing to their young children makes a difference.

"Now we know those kinds of interactions ... are literally building brains," Clinton said. "I'm excited because the more we learn about the importance of early childhood, the more we're going to be able to convince people across the political spectrum, wherever they live, that this is an investment worth making."

Here is the original post:
Hillary Clinton Is a Proud 'Hippy' Mom

Apr 29, 2014 9:51am

(Jessica Hill/AP Photo)

Speaking to a room full of supporters and early education leaders, Hillary Clinton touted an early education program that she admits she stumbled on by fate nearly 30 years ago.

In 1985 when my husband was governor of Arkansas, I went with him to a governors conference in Miami, the former Secretary of State said at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., on Monday. I was in our hotel room getting ready for the day, flipping through the local newspaper, when something caught my eye.

Clinton, now a prospective candidate for the Democratic partys nomination for president in 2016, went on to recount her experience reading about the origins of what would become the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters, or HIPPY program.

I am honored to be introduced as a HIPPY mom And soon to be HIPPY grandma, Clinton said.

The HIPPY Program is a home visitation service that aims to foster early childhood cognitive development. Teachers offer a curriculum that they recommend parents work 15-20 minutes per day with their children ages 3-5.

Had Clinton not picked up that copy of the Miami Herald, the program might not have been celebrating its 25th anniversary in the United States. It was originally started by Dr. Avima Lombard in 1969, an Israeli doctor who wanted to help immigrants and their children adjust to live in new countries.

But Clinton read Lombards story, and saw the potential for the program in Arkansas.

I finally tracked her [Lombard] down at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and got her on the phone, Clinton said. You can imagine her surprise when I told her I was calling from Little Rock.

Read more from the original source:
Hillary Clinton Says She Will Be a HIPPY Grandma

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers the keynote address to the United Methodist Women Assembly at the Kentucky International Convention Center, Saturday, April 26, 2014, in Louisville, Ky.

Frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination Hillary Clinton has given an uncharacteristically personal address in which she shared about her Christian beliefs.

As 7,000 women gathered for the United Methodist Women's Assembly in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday, Hillary took the opportunity to speak of the impact that faith has had on her career, while also underlining the importance of equal rights for men and women.

As a young girl growing up in Park Ridge, Illinois, Christian influences were all around her, she shared. Her grandmother was fond of singing hymns and she remembers her father praying every evening.

"That made a very big impression on me," Clinton said.

"My father had been a football player, had been a petty officer during World War II in the Navy; he was a rough gruff kind of man, self-made, independent, small businessman, and there he was - humble on his knees before God every single night."

The family also went to a local church, which Clinton said "helped to deepen my faith and ground it".

"I love that church," she added. "I love the doors that it opened in my understanding of the world."

It is this understanding rooted in a personal faith that has led Clinton to campaign against such issues as human trafficking.

"Like the disciples of Jesus, we cannot look away," she declared. "'You feed them,' he said. 'Feed them, rescue them, heal them, love them'."

Excerpt from:
Hillary Clinton on faith, family and the importance of church

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