NORWICH – In light of his advocacy and support for early childhood education programs, U.S. Representative Richard Hanna was bestowed the “YMCA Congressional Champion Award” at the Norwich Family YMCA on Wednesday.

Hanna has a longstanding history of vying for legislation that allows working families easier access to effective and affordable early education programs similar to those offered through the Norwich YMCA. According to the organization, Hanna’s passion to improve education goes hand in hand with its mission of strengthening the local community.

Particularly, Hanna was lauded by the Y for his lead sponsorship of the Strong Start for America’s Children Act, which proposes to expand and improve early learning opportunities over the course of 10 years for children from birth to age five. The bill, first introduced in 2013, would create a new federal-state partnership to provide affordable access to pre-K programs for qualified low and moderate income families.

“Nothing breaks intergenerational poverty better than education in general, but pre-K specifically,” said Hanna. “The paybacks on pre-K are anywhere between seven to one, to 14 to one. It’s a shame we don’t invest in it in our country more than we do.”