Contact: Sammy McDavid
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A former Mississippi Public Broadcasting administrator now is leading a pilot program developed by the National Center for Rural Early Childhood Learning Initiatives.
Annjo Lemons of Madison recently was chosen to direct Excel by Five, a community planning initiative of the Mississippi State University-based center. She previously was head of early childhood programming in MPB's Education Services Division.
Funded by Chevron Texaco and the Meridian-based Phil Hardin Foundation, Excel by Five initially is focusing on pre-kindergarten children in Cleveland, Pascagoula, Petal, and West Point. Developed by state education and child care professionals, the grassroots endeavor has established standards related to parent training, community participation, child care, and health that support pre-K youth and their parents.
"The program is designed to give communities, regardless of size, and those responsible for early child care and education a structured set of achievable steps toward the Excel by Five certification," said Early Childhood Center director Cathy Grace.
If the project proves effective during the pilot stage, the center may seek to replicate it in rural communities of other states, the MSU education professor said.
In welcoming Lemons to the center, Grace gave recognition to her earlier achievements in the field. Specifically, she cited Lemons' service as a parent education specialist with the Mississippi Forum on Children and Families and director of the Mississippi Literacy Foundation.
"As producer of MPB's 'Right from Birth,' a popular early childhood development video series, she was nominated for a regional Emmy Award in 2001," Grace added.
Lemons also has received the State Friend of Extension Award from the Mississippi chapter of Epsilon Sigma Phi, the national society for cooperative extension professionals.
For more on MSU's Rural Early Childhood Center, visit www.ruralec.msstate.edu.