Friends,
At Think Small ™ , our mission, passion, and purpose is to advance quality care
and education of children in their crucial early years so that they will succeed
in school and life. And we will not stop until all of Minnesota’s children are
fully prepared for success. When our children are not sufficiently prepared for
kindergarten, the cost – not just economic but moral – is far too great.
It’s been an amazing year and we hope that you enjoy this report. This past year,
we: • Were joined by the state’s leading early childhood advocacy organization,
Ready 4 K, in order to move people and policies forward in positive ways for
children and families.
• Adopted a bold new name that conveys our commitment to young children.
• Concluded the successful pilots of the Minnesota Early Learning
Foundation’s Parent Aware and scholarship programs, and celebrated
children’s accomplishments as they progressed to kindergarten ready to
learn. • Connected our own library to the state’s public library system to make our
resources fully accessible statewide.
• Published 23 new Redleaf Press titles, including our 17th translation into
Chinese! • Marked our 40th anniversary with pride.
Our supporters, board, staff, and early childhood partners all play a role in
making our work have the greatest impact possible. Please be active, share your
ideas with us, and stay connected. Thank you!
Barbara Yates
Executive Director
Greg Pearson
Chair, Board of
Directors page 3