Rick Hulefeld poses with his wife, Mary, and City leaders during a recess of the Board of Commissioners Meeting. From left: Commissioner Ron Washington, Mayor Joe Meyer, the Hulefelds, Commissioner Nolan Nicaise, and Commissioner Tim Downing. (Commissioner Shannon Smith participated in the meeting virtually.)
COVINGTON, Ky. – The median age in the city of Covington is 36.9 years, federal officials say, which is six years less than the 43 years Rick Hulefeld has dedicated toward the cause of early childhood education in Kentucky and its fifth-largest community.
In other words, well over half of the people in Covington weren’t even alive when Hulefeld began working on behalf of children here.
To honor Hulefeld’s over four decades of fierce advocacy, tireless efforts, and sustainable success, the Covington Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night surprised him with a framed resolution in his honor naming May 11 as “Rick Hulefeld Day” in Covington.
Hulefeld recently announced his retirement from Learning Grove, a nonprofit that operates a network of centers supporting children and their families and the latest home for his involvement. He began serving as executive director of Cathedral Child Care in 1979 and was founder and leader of Children Inc. until 2017, when the organization merged with a Cincinnati agency to form Learning Grove.
Statewide, he served a leadership role in the Governor’s Taskforce on Early Childhood Development and Education and then as chairman of the Kentucky Early Childhood Advisory Council for several years, testifying often before committees of the Kentucky General Assembly and generally acting as an ambassador to promote the wisdom and benefits of early childhood education.
Covington’s resolution, which was read at the meeting, mentioned Hulefeld’s efforts to bring an annual Brain Conference to Covington that gave the science behind the critical brain development that happens in a child’s first three years of life, and to introduce a K-12 service learning initiative that served as many as 25,000 students and teachers yearly. He also was the godfather of the City’s current Read Ready Covington early literacy initiative.
To hear the presentation, skip to the 4-minute mark of the April 25 Commission meeting.
Covington Mayor Joe Meyer, who was secretary of the Kentucky Education & Workforce Development Cabinet when then-Gov. Steve Beshear appointed Hulefeld to chair the newly created advisory council, called Hulefeld “an indefatigable champion” of early childhood education and said families and communities throughout the Commonwealth will reap the benefit of his work long into the future.
“Recognizing Rick on the occasion of his retirement is really the least we could do to say ‘thank you’ for all that (he’s) done for us all,” Meyer said.
Hulefeld spoke briefly to thank his family and his wife, Mary; the staff of Learning Grove; and the many partners who collaborated with him and the various agencies to better prepare children to hit the ground running in their school careers.
“Covington is an extraordinary place to build a dream,” he said. “We don’t do anything alone, or at least we shouldn’t try.”
But Hulefeld also cautioned leaders not to rest:
“We still face challenges,” he said. “Too many of our children in Covington are not reading at grade level at the end of the 3rd grade – early childhood has a whole lot to do with that. Too of our high school students are graduating without a real plan that they believe in, that’s based on their strengths, their interests, and their hopes.”
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