In an Aug. 12 editorial, The News Tribune pointed out the release of yet another study that confirms, as the headline put it, “Stunning dividends from early learning.”

To anyone who’s been paying any attention at all to the most recent developments in early childhood development or brain research, or even some recent research on economic development return on investment, the headline and supportive editorial that followed came as no surprise.

To sum it up simply, those kids who start kindergarten not ready to learn rarely catch up. The long-term costs to communities and to larger social systems are immense.

And in Pierce County, nearly 60 percent of our kindergarten students are entering school not ready. We are falling permanently behind. Is it any wonder our subsequent drop-out rates are high?

On the other hand, those kids who enter school ready to learn typically succeed in school and in life at much higher rates, leading to tremendous long-term benefits for the communities in which they live.

This information suggests we in Pierce County need to get serious about dramatically moving our very low “readiness to learn” rate much higher for children about to enter kindergarten.

And we need to do it in a big hurry, or we will find ourselves with even fewer creative thinkers and leaders and a far less competent and competitive workforce. If we do not respond to this community challenge, we will end up far behind many communities now taking this challenge seriously.

So how about some good news?

Pierce County is in the process of positioning itself to be a leader in the development of an early-learning system that has the potential to rival the best in the United States.

The effort includes the potential adoption of a number of evidence-based models to achieve good results with very young kids and their parents in at-home care, or in care with family, friends and neighbors, or in licensed or unlicensed child care sites. In all of the models, the parent is a vital contributor and participant, and quality improvements in care are the focus.

Now for the more difficult news.

We will not be successful in the effort to reach children unless our citizens, our public policy leaders, key nonprofit organizations, and our leading “icon” companies – those who’ve been here for years, who’ve developed here as companies, and who have become synonymous with Pierce County – decide to step up and help invest in the early learning effort. It won’t be free, it won’t be easy, and it will take a long-term sustained commitment. Yes, of dollars.

Fortunately, there are signs that Pierce County is responding. A broadly-based early-learning coalition has been formed and is developing a business plan to submit to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation has visited the group at United Way headquarters in Tacoma and expressed general support for the effort, having seen a 17-page draft of an initial early-learning model.

The Gates Foundation now has gone so far as to hire a consultant to help the Pierce County group refine and submit the plan for potential funding.

But one thing is clear. The Gates Foundation, like most foundations these days, expects communities to step up and play an ongoing and sustainable part in funding important community efforts. That includes early learning.

A successful application will take not only a compelling, evidence-based business plan with measurable outcomes, but also a financing plan that includes governments, school districts, local foundations and funders like United Way, and leading businesses and key individuals in the community with the capacity to help over a sustained number of years.

A few leading icon companies, companies closely associated with and headquartered in Pierce County, have already made some impressive financial commitments. The commitments come with the contingency that a business plan acceptable to the Gates Foundation is developed, that outcomes are measured and reported, and that local governments also play a role.

Several of our local governments have met in study sessions and are considering financial commitments, with much the same contingencies as above. United Way and a number of local foundations are either committed or interested in learning more.

Pierce County is on the verge of a major breakthrough in its understanding of and support for early learning. The big payoffs are down the line, as children move successfully through school and into later life.

It is imperative that we in Pierce County create a sustainable early-learning model to facilitate that success, with broadly-based community financial support, over the long term.

Rick Allen is president of United Way of Pierce County.