This is the first in a series of videos showing the impact high-quality early learning has on children, families and child care providers across Minnesota. Check back here for a new video every week in January.

Meet Rutha Kyi. Rutha is a refugee from Burma, who worked hard to provide for her children and mother when arriving in Minnesota at the age of 36. Overcoming many obstacles, she started her own child care program and continuously worked to improve the quality of her care. Now, she is able to provide quality early learning opportunities for children in her community, setting them on a path for success in school and life. See how she did it. (Link/Embed)

We are proud to work with Rutha, and she’s not the only one. Every day, we work with child care providers to overcome language and cultural barriers to help them provide high quality early learning opportunities. Last year alone, we trained more than 20,000 early learning professionals, helping to improve the quality of care across Minnesota. High-quality care means incorporating kindergarten readiness best practices so children from all backgrounds get the best start possible in life.

The early years of a child’s life are crucial for laying the foundation of their lives, setting them up for success in school and life. High-quality early learning can help improve that trajectory and change the course of their life, especially for the most at-risk children. It’s absolutely crucial that all children have access to high quality care during their crucial early years. Rutha is one of many child care providers working to reach that goal.