News Releases
Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - July 30, 1998
Contact:  Robin Zukoski, 360-902-4110

Early Learning panel gains two more Eastern Washington members

OLYMPIA - Gov. Gary Locke has appointed two additional members of the Governor's Commission on Early Learning. Yolanda Cortinas-Trout, of Walla Walla and Gayle Womack, of Kennewick, join the panel formed last month to examine the state's role in improving the earliest stages of learning for children from birth to five years of age. First Lady Mona Lee Locke and Melinda French Gates co-chair the commission.

Cortinas-Trout is owner and director of Yolanda's ABC-123 Child Day Care, a licensed family home child care facility in Walla Walla. She is a member of the Washington Association for the Education of Young Children.

Womack is director of the Benton-Franklin Developmental Center, a non-profit community agency which provides special education, therapy and family services to children between the ages of birth and three years who are developmentally delayed. Womack also serves on the State Interagency Coordinating Council for Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and their Families, a group created to advise the Department of Social and Health Services and other agencies on a comprehensive statewide system of early intervention services.

First Lady Mona Lee Locke said the two new members bring important strengths to the group's work. "We're delighted to welcome early childhood educators with the kind of vital expertise that Yolanda Cortinas-Trout and Gayle Womack bring to the commission," Mrs. Locke said.

Melinda French Gates said the new members will help round out even more an already diverse collection of members. "Gayle Womack brings critical knowledge of children with special needs and their families, while Yolanda Cortinas-Trout knows the everyday challenges facing family child care providers in Eastern Washington and across the state," Gates added.

The governor formed the commission to bring together leaders in health, education, child care, business and government to explore ways of ensuring all children in Washington go to school prepared to succeed. Since the launch was announced in June at Hutch Kids child care center in Seattle, the commission already has met twice to begin identifying gaps in programs for children and parents, as well as raising the public's awareness of issues surrounding early learning in children.

The addition of the two members brings total commission membership to 24. The next meeting of the commission is scheduled for August 18.

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