FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2, 2008

GOVERNOR BARBOUR APPOINTS FITZGERALD TO EARLY CHILDHOOD ADVISORY COUNCIL

(JACKSON, Mississippi)—Governor Haley Barbour has appointed Oleta Garrett Fitzgerald, of Canton, to the State Early Childhood Advisory Council, a newly-established council that meets requirements in the federal Head Start Reauthorization Act of 2007. Designed to advance the development of a coordinated state early childhood system, the Council will provide leadership and assistance to early care and education programs as well as state agencies that provides services for children from birth to school entry.

“I am pleased Oleta has accepted this important assignment to help advance the development of our state’s early childhood education system,” Governor Barbour said.

Fitzgerald is the southern regional director of the Children’s Defense Fund, where she has worked for 13 years. Previously, she served as intergovernmental affairs director under former U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Epsy from 1993 to 1995. Fitzgerald is a member of the Mississippi Head Start board of directors and serves on an advisory committee to the Stennis Institute of Government and the Mississippi Low Income Child Care Initiative.

Fitzgerald attended Tougaloo College.