Delegate Matt Fariss

Last Thursday I had to opportunity to participate in “Read for the Record”, a worldwide campaign promoting early learning and the importance of reading by everyone reading the same book on the same day by volunteers.  This year’s book was “Not Norman: A Goldfish Story” by Kelly Bennett. I really enjoyed my time reading to Mrs. West’s class at Yellow Branch Elementary School and think this program is a wonderful way to get involved and get our youth excited about reading. In Campbell County alone, a total of 760 children in the kindergarten and pre-kindergarten classes were read to that day and about 20 more were read to that evening at the Campbell County library. The event was coordinated in Campbell County by the Campbell County Child Development Task Force and Smart Beginnings Central Virginia.

At the state level, the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF) leads Virginia’s Smart Beginnings Initiative. VECF is a 501(c) (3) organization, created in 2005, that has received an annual appropriation from the state legislature since 2006 to support its local early childhood systems building efforts. The mission of VECF is to support school readiness through development of local early childhood initiatives and to serve as a nonpartisan steward of capacity building aimed at advancing school readiness in Virginia. VECF also serves as a co-lead for the Virginia Early Childhood Advisory Council and partners with the Virginia Department of Social Services in the administration of and strategic planning for the state’s quality rating and improvement system.

Nearly 100 cities/counties in Virginia benefit from Smart Beginnings.  Communities that focus on school readiness strategies document K-12 school system cost savings from reduced need for early reading intervention and early grade repetition.

                Election Day is right around the corner and I wanted to give my constituents more information on the Next General Election. The deadline to register to vote in the November 3, 2015 election was October 13, 2015 and has passed. If you are registered and cannot be present to vote on November 3^rd, there is still time to get your absentee application in by mail, with a deadline of Tuesday, October 27^th at 5:00pm. You can also submit your absentee application in person at your county’s voter registration office up until Saturday, October 31^st at 5:00pm.  You can also visit https://elections.virginia.gov/citizen-portal/to view your voter records, apply to vote absentee, view your upcoming election ballot information, find your polling location and more. The deadline to register to vote in the November 3, 2015 election was October 13, 2015 and has passed.

If you have any concerns, questions, comments or issues that I or my Aide, Jenna, can help you with, please contact us at (434)821-5929 or email at [email protected]

Thank You!