Today at Mayor Kenney’s Budget Address, there was a special guest. That special guest was Rachel Honore, a quality pre-K advocate.
Rachel has personally experienced the power of early education and has been advocating for quality pre-K for the last three years. At 18 months, her son Jonathan showed signs of autism. A qualified ECE teacher at Families First, a program run by Montgomery Early Learning Center, noticed the signs and was able to begin early intervention. Now at 4 years old and attending Penn Alexander School, he’s gaining speech and social skills every day.
“Early literacy is the key to reading on grade level, graduating on time, and contributing to society,” says Rachel.
Rachel began volunteering with West Philadelphia Action for Early Learning to help inform local parents about the power of pre-K. She was soon hired as a Parent Ambassador, then promoted to Parent Navigator.
“The money for pre-K expansion needs to come from somewhere and this is a tax that won’t hurt our economy more than it will help it. Families in my community need quality pre-K. I myself have a four-year old son with autism and pre-K has helped him thrive,” says Rachel.
Rachel was proud to attend the Mayor’s Budget Address, and hear him outline why expanding pre-K is so important to our city’s future.