CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The George Gund Foundation and the PNC Foundation are donating $1.3 million to Cuyahoga County's pre-kindergarten program, county Executive Ed FitzGerald announced today.

The county started the Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program in 2008. The early-childhood initiative, conducted by the private-public Invest in Children partership, has been shown to have a positive impact on preparing children for school success. The program serves 1,000 children.

The Gund Foundation is donating $1 million. The PNC Foundation, the charitable arm of PNC Financial Services Group Inc., is donating $300,000.

The funding "illustrates the power of the public and private sectors coming together to help further the county's early childhood education," FitzGerald said in a prepared statement. "This is our call to action. We are hoping that others will answer it."

Research has shown that quality early-childhood programs have a significant long-term economic return on the initial program investment, the statement said.

FitzGerald also announced that he and Paul Clark, PNC regional president, Northern Ohio, will co-chair Invest in Children's Partnership Committee, an advisory group comprised of both public and private sector leaders.

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