Annaliese Newmeyer, M.Ed., has spent the past five years preparing low-income early learners for success in kindergarten and beyond as a Head Start lead teacher at the Ounce of Prevention Fund’s pioneering Educare School on Chicago’s South Side. Established in 2000 in the city’s Grand Boulevard neighborhood—then the poorest census tract in America—this research-based early childhood education program inspired the development of a nationwide network of Educare schools with a common mission to give financially disadvantaged infants, toddlers and preschoolers the best possible opportunity for success in life. Through her work at Educare Chicago, Newmeyer is helping to prevent the achievement gap that often separates children born into poverty from their middle-income peers long before they enter kindergarten. Prior to her work with Educare, she spent seven years helping young children flourish in a wide variety of early childhood settings, from the Loyola University Preschool in Chicago, where she served as a lead toddler teacher, to the Peaslee Neighborhood Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she served as director of early childhood education. She holds a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and a masters degree in early childhood education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is passionate about providing high-quality early childhood experiences for low-income children during the crucial first five years of life—and paving the way for a future where anything is possible.