Fairfax Futures Director Named

Fairfax County Department of Family Services/Office for Children
12011 Government Center Parkway
Fairfax, VA 22035
For more information, contact: Gail Bjorklund
703-324-8225 TTY: 703-222-9452

Vera Steiner Blore has been named director of Fairfax Futures, the non-profit organization launched last summer at the Early Learning is Good Business Summit to raise funds for school readiness programs in Fairfax County.

Fairfax County "needs a systematic effort to support the preschool experience of our youngest residents," said Gerald Connolly, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, who hosted the Early Learning summit where representatives from the public and private sectors learned how they could invest in early learning programs.

Vera has an extensive background in the non-profit sector including fundraising, board development, donor cultivation, coordination of special events, and strategic planning. Before joining Fairfax Futures, she was development director for the Washington DC-based Radio and Television News Directors Foundation.

As director of Fairfax Futures, Vera's will work with the Fairfax Futures Board and Advisory Committee on:

• Raising public and private funding to support quality early learning experiences for young children.
• Increasing public awareness of the importance of early childhood education and its significance for school readiness, and the county's current and future economic health.
• Creating public-private partnerships with education, business, philanthropic and the public sector to support a county-wide vision for early childhood excellence, resulting in high quality programs for our youngest children.
• Making targeted investments in early learning programs based on research and a county-wide vision.

The Freddie Mac Foundation presented Fairfax Futures with a $60,000 startup grant at the summit. Summit sponsors included the Fairfax County Office for Children, the Fairfax County Child Care Advisory Council and the Fairfax County Community Action Advisory Board.

"Every dollar invested in preschool programs ultimately means seven fewer dollars will have to be spent on remediation, welfare payments, unemployment, and other compensatory costs," emphasized Chairman Connolly.