Why Early Childhood Matters: PNC’s Role in Shaping Kentucky’s Educational Landscape with Yajaira Aich-West

Yajaira Aich West

VP Client and Community Relations Director, PNC Bank

Quote of the Podcast: 

 “"It’s not so much what we have in this life that matters. It’s what we do with what we have." Fred Rogers

Introduction of Guest BIO – 

Yajaira Aich West is a Vice President at PNC Bank and serves as the Director of Client and Community Relations. In this role she manages the philanthropic investments in the fifteen counties where PNC has a presence in the central and eastern half of the state of Kentucky and southeast portion of Ohio, coordinates the client events produced by the bank and leads employee initiatives around health and wellness. 

Yajaira graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Transylvania University in 2004 and earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Kentucky's Gatton College of Business and Economics in 2011.  

Yajaira is an active member of the community via volunteerism and board service. She is currently a Lexington Public Library Trustee, on the board of directors at the Kentucky Chamber Foundation, Commerce Lexington Foundation, Urban League of Lexington-Fayette County, Child Care Council of Kentucky and on the Policy Council for Bluegrass Community Action Partnership. She is a graduate of the Commerce Lexington’s Leadership Lexington and Leadership Central Kentucky and the Leadership Kentucky programs.

Interview

Agents of Change: Leaders/Innovators.

·      30,000 Ft. View -Why should we as a society invest in education?

·      How did you come to be involved with the support of education at PNC?

·      What do you love about what you do, specifically in the education space?

·      PNC’s philanthropic efforts in educational initiatives (early childhood education, financial education, grants to economic empowerment etc).

·      What are the biggest challenges to you?

·      What would you like decision makers to know?

Podcast/ website/ book shoutouts

www.PNCgrowupgreat.com

www.pnc.com

I’d recommend a relatively new podcast called “Good Hang with Amy Poehler” because she does something different before each interview, she chooses someone close to the guest and records a conversation where they talk “Good behind their back.” It is an uplifting and joyful podcast and a reminder that we can always talk good behind someone’s back.  

Transcript

Liza Holland [00:00:02]:
Welcome to Education Perspectives. I am your host, Liza Holland. This is a podcast that explores the role of education in our society from a variety of lenses. Education needs to evolve to meet the needs of today and the future. Solving such huge issues requires understanding. Join me as we begin to explore the many perspectives of education. Yahida Aitch west is a Vice President at PNC bank and serves as the Director of Client and Community Relations. In this role, she manages the philanthropic investments in the 15 counties where PNC has a presence in the central and eastern half of the state of Kentucky and southeast portions of Ohio.

Liza Holland [00:00:47]:
She coordinates the client events produced by the bank and leads employee initiatives around health and wellness. Yahida graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Transylvania University in 2004 and earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Kentucky's Gatton College of Business and Economics in 2011.

Liza Holland [00:01:07]:
Yahida is an active member of the.

Liza Holland [00:01:09]:
Community via volunteerism and board service. She is currently a Lexington Public Library trustee, on the Board of Directors of the Kentucky Chamber foundation, the Commerce Lexington Foundation, Urban League of Lexington, Fayette County Child Care Council of Kentucky, and on the Policy Council for the Bluegrass Community Action Partnership. She is a graduate of the Commerce Lexington's Leadership Lexington and Leadership Central Kentucky, as well as the Leadership Kentucky programs.

Liza Holland [00:01:43]:
Welcome Yahida. Well, hello. Hello Yaida, how are you? So glad to have you here on Education Perspectives.

Yajaira Aich West [00:01:52]:
Thank you for having me. It's my pleasure. I look forward to having our conversation.

Liza Holland [00:01:56]:
Fantastic. Well, gotta kick you off with that big, big question from a 30,000 foot view. Why do you think that we as a society invest in education?

Liza Holland [00:02:06]:
I've been listening to the podcast and I love that you asked this question and all the varying answers. You know, I thought about this for a minute and I was like, oh, she's gonna ask me the same thing. So we should invest in education because it is one of the most powerful and transformative decisions a society can make. I mean, investing in education, it yields a high return for individuals, for our communities, for our society as a whole. I've worked in the financial industry for over 20 years, and one thing is always true that we as employees, our clients, we want to see a high return on our investments. And I think education helps. It helps form the foundation for a flourishing economy and workforce. It creates a healthy community.

Yajaira Aich West [00:02:59]:
Education helps cultivate an engaged and productive population. I mean, it just. Education does all of these things. And I work at PNC as a corporate funder. The bank intentionally focuses its key philanthropic initiative on high quality early childhood Education. And we do this for several reasons. And it might sound weird, but here's the reason. Quality early childhood education can narrow the achievement gap.

Yajaira Aich West [00:03:30]:
It can boost earnings, it impacts our economy, and it's a really solid investment. And I know we're going to talk a little bit more, but I just briefly wanted to quickly mention about 20 years ago at PNC, all of these factors that I just mentioned led to the development what we call PNC grow up great. This is a nationwide $500 million multi year bilingual initiatives with all these things. And so since 2004, when PNC Grove great launched, it's help prepare children birth to age 5 for success in school and life. And what we're seeing with this focus and PNC is just a part of it, but there's higher graduation rates with children who have quality early childhood learning experiences. They have higher employment and higher annual income. So we watched children grow and all of these things are more true than not. This also high quality early childhood also means better physical and mental health.

Yajaira Aich West [00:04:37]:
It increases their civic engagement, and we overall have a healthier society. So we believe here at PNC and myself that a society thrives when we all invest in education because like I said at the very beginning, it's one of the most powerful and transformative decisions that us as a corporation, but as a society can really make. So that's the 34,000 level of why we should invest.

Liza Holland [00:05:03]:
But that is such a fantastic answer. And I think it's counterintuitive to some people. They think, oh, well, we don't need to worry about young kids. They're just learning their ABCs. Right. But so much happens in those formative years and the research really supports it. You're right.

Yajaira Aich West [00:05:20]:
You're absolutely right. So much happens in those first five years of life.

Liza Holland [00:05:23]:
I love it. So you've kind of answered my next question about why you've become involved with the supportive education at pnc. Because that's the, that's a perfect answer. Is it really is a long term investment. I think that that's, that's fantastic.

Yajaira Aich West [00:05:37]:
My involvement began as soon as I started at pnc. This company, you know, collaborates with a variety of nonprofit organizations, including those that focus on early childhood education. And there are plenty of opportunities for PNC team members to get involved and volunteer. And I, my overachieving self, took advantage of those pretty quickly. I also am very fortunate to support all of these initiatives because my role, I'm the client and community relations director. But I do not do this work alone. There's a team of local PNC employees who we all keep our ears to the ground. We listen to the communities where PNC has services and branches and employees from everybody.

Yajaira Aich West [00:06:24]:
We've got a regional president of Kentucky. Her name is Kristen Bird. So she's the top, you know, leader to the head of all of our local departments. We actually all work together, which is really great in this company, to determine how and to whom the investments are distributed to. But my role in particular is also why I'm so engaged. I help guide, and I don't do it alone, like I said, but I guide our grant funding from the PNC Foundation. I guide the charitable sponsorships from the PNC bank because they're two separate entities and our employee volunteerism. And we're really fortunate our employees show up through board service and volunteerism.

Yajaira Aich West [00:07:04]:
I'm very fortunate. I serve on a couple of boards like the Child Care Council of Kentucky, the Kentucky Chamber foundation, and all of these are contributing to local solutions for education. We're very concentrated in this space, and a lot of my colleagues are also on nonprofit boards. For example, the United Ways across the state of Kentucky, varying Junior Achievement programs across Kentucky. And all of these support education, whether it's preschool or adult education. We are spread across and we're trying to do our part.

Liza Holland [00:07:37]:
You know, that is a huge commitment from a company and a corporation, especially one that is so focused on that return on investment. I mean, that's a really impressive type of a thing. Tell me, you know, just for you personally, what is it that you love about what you're doing?

Yajaira Aich West [00:07:54]:
Oh, I. You know, I say it all the time. I might have one of the best jobs in the company because my position is that I help bring the resources of a major national bank to Kentucky to help drive local business and deliver on our community commitments. So every day I get to do this. I believe PNC is making a tangible difference in our work, in our philanthropic focuses and in the communities. Like I mentioned a little bit before, we've got a PNC foundation and that focuses on strengthening and enriching communities through grants and education, arts and culture, and economic development. We've got employees that are engaged and contributed. We've got the PNC Grow Upgrade initiative.

Yajaira Aich West [00:08:42]:
So there's a lot of good stuff going on at this company. And it's not just early childhood. I did want to kind of. I know I talk a lot about early childhood because that's. That's my heart. But we do do a lot in other spaces in education that I would Love to kind of share with you, if that's all right, before.

Liza Holland [00:08:59]:
Absolutely. This is a perfect transition because we've talked about the variety, because I learned even just from our, our initial discussions, that it is, it's not just this, this wonderful early childhood education, but what the other things that you're doing. So please tell us all these great things.

Yajaira Aich West [00:09:15]:
Oh, I appreciate the opportunity. I get really passionate about it if you can't tell. With grants from the PNC foundation that have been awarded here in our state of Kentucky, they have also focused not on financial education and economic development. We've got partners in what we call PNC Community Development. So we collaborate with these partners and really harness all the energy and power of the company and these philanthropic dollars to local nonprofits. We really love to provide financial education to people of all ages. And so, for example, the foundation has awarded grants to the Urban Leagues of Louisville and Lexington. And these grants particularly supported housing counseling, educational workshops around credit building rental readiness and mortgage foreclosure mitigation.

Yajaira Aich West [00:10:09]:
We have, the foundation has supported a group called the Louisville Asset Building Coalition. And that grant supported adult financial education. But then on the other spectrum, we've provided grants to Junior Achievement chapters in Owensboro and Lexington, also Volunteers of America that are using the grant dollars to teach financial literacy to children and to. In the K through 12 space. And all of this, you know, is essential because it equips our young community members, our adults who also haven't had this when they were in, in their pre. In their K through 12 education. It provides them with the knowledge and skills to make sound financial decisions. And it really brings pnc, you know, in, in the community and we're subject matter experts and we get to help provide this type of education.

Yajaira Aich West [00:10:59]:
And then on the other hand, it's kind of fun. The Kentucky Chamber foundation received a grant to support their leadership institute for school principals. And this is a leadership development program for principals who have been in their roles for five or less years. They, you know, they build their own, their skills, but they bring these skills back to their classrooms and have in their school buildings and have really become key figures that are working hard on behalf of all the children and the teachers in that school. So these are just a couple of the education related grants that are outside of the pnc. Grow up. Great scope in early childhood.

Liza Holland [00:11:38]:
Yeah, no, that is great because those are some really particular areas that I feel bad for building administrators because it doesn't seem to me that they are given as much. The work is so different than what you do in the classroom. And so being able to support those leadership skills are really kind of critical. So I'm so glad that you're doing that. And I tell you, I was thrilled that the legislature finally passed a law that says that in order to graduate from high school, you have to have a personal finance class. Because, I mean, what a shocker. You know, we actually, every single person needs it. We may not all need algebra, but we definitely need personal finance.

Liza Holland [00:12:19]:
So thank you for supporting those types of resources, especially for those people who didn't get it the first time around. So hopefully that there's some good things. Now I understand that you've got some interesting playground kind of work going on as well. Yeah.

Yajaira Aich West [00:12:34]:
So back to the early childhood space. PNC Grow Up Great is the signature initiative that I mentioned. It supports and delivers engaging programs, experiences, and resources. And we work to help create opportunities for this next generation and their caregivers. Because we had kind of touched on it a little bit ago. There's so much research, and PNC really keeps up with this research about critical brain development and how it happens so early in our lives. There's research that indicates that 90% of our brain develops by the age of five. And so these are such critical years.

Yajaira Aich West [00:13:14]:
Yes. And these early learning environments really affect language and literacy, cognitive skills, our social and emotional development. And so delays at this stage can be really difficult and expensive to fix later. So at pnc, we're really trying to provide these early interventions and extra skills and resources to really make a difference and a positive difference in these children's lives. So we've been doing grow up great for 20 years. A little over 20 years now that we're at the end of 2025. And it's because PNC, we as bankers understand that investing in high quality early childhood education is one of the best investments that we can do. So like you'd mentioned, in 2024, we celebrated our 20th anniversary.

Yajaira Aich West [00:14:04]:
We made an announcement that there's going to be a pretty major investment from the PNC foundation to create high quality nature based outdoor play and learning environments. And I'm sure the audience today is like, what?

Liza Holland [00:14:20]:
Why? I'm so excited. I'm like, okay, tell me more, tell me more.

Yajaira Aich West [00:14:25]:
Now we're swinging. Now we're going outside. Well, yes, this emphasis on nature based learning is informed by a growing body of research and it suggests that outdoor play offers so many benefits to our young children in their learning and development. So first, PNC funded a research study by. It was called the National Institute for early education research, also known as mir. And it revealed that roughly half of preschool age children are playing outside less than once a day. That's not how I grew up. We were outside until mom calls you for dinner with that research.

Yajaira Aich West [00:15:03]:
Now that PNC knew through research that these children were not outside enough, that's one of the things that we helped announce. So we wanted to help get these children engaged and be outdoors. So that's why we focused our, our 20th anniversary on enhancing these outdoor play spaces. We're fortunate here. I sit in Lexington, you know, I'm, I help with the entire Kentucky team, but I get to, I have the luxury of sitting in Lexington and living here. Two of these playgrounds are being built. One is at the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government, the Family Care center. And one is at the Fayette County Public School District, the Meadow Thorpe Elementary.

Yajaira Aich West [00:15:44]:
They both received grants from the PNC foundation to support these nature based playgrounds. And their playgrounds are super special because they kind of, they're going to provide elements from the earth. Like these are truly nature based. There's going to be tree logs, tree stumps, boulders, plants, everything. Nature. Like, we want children to get outdoors in a safe environment and play and learn, you know, and just be outside as much as possible. And so we're very excited about these investments in the community. They're literally working on building these playgrounds today.

Yajaira Aich West [00:16:23]:
So we're hoping, we're expecting that in spring 2026 that we'll have some ribbon cuttings and showcase these brand new playgrounds. Because outdoor play isn't just, you know, important for the kids and it's important for the adults that take them outside. And so it's going to just really impact our communities and the lives of these pre K children in so many ways. And we're excited to be a small part about it.

Liza Holland [00:16:49]:
You know, I think that's so exciting and especially because I've been doing some research on durable skills and why it is that all of a sudden kids are not some of those problem solving, communication, critical thinking types of skills. And a lot of the answer seems to be that they don't have free play time outside anymore. That they do not have that opportunity to go and say what game are we going to play and what are the rules going to be and all these kinds of things. So much learning comes through play. And so I love the concept of really bringing in this nature element because I think the kids are curious, you know, and we want to keep them that way. So kudos to you that's exciting.

Yajaira Aich West [00:17:35]:
Yeah. And there's also a couple of other grants. Not everything we do is that is the nature based. You know, that was really a special opportunity in our 20th anniversary and finding the right partners. A couple of other just things that are going on in the early childhood space. With some grant funding from pnc, the Community Action Council received a grant for piloting what they're calling Kickstart Literacy in Fayette, Laurel and Madison counties. And it's a full year of structured, developmentally appropriate lesson plans that blend what they're calling purposeful play with vocabulary and writing. So it's like this holistic lesson plan and it comes with children's literature, like with the books, the interactive read alongs activities, hands on experiences.

Yajaira Aich West [00:18:27]:
And so we're really excited that these teachers are going to pilot this program in these three counties. And we look forward to hearing about a year to hear how it went, if they're going to expand the program and what the results are out of that. A couple of other things. This one's kind of fun, or they all are fun, but the Richmond Area Arts Council, so we're back in Madison county, connects Eastern Kentucky University music majors. So these are college kids with the local Head Start classroom. So see, they're the pre K children and teaching them music classes. And so with the Head Start structure, they probably wouldn't have as much of an in depth music program. But PNC funded this grant to the Area Arts Council to provide and to make, to make this connection.

Yajaira Aich West [00:19:14]:
So it's such a great experience is the, the pre K kids get to play with musical instruments. They sing songs, they learn songs. And then the EKU students have the teaching experience like they're creating curriculum and lesson plans. And so we've matched those two up. And something else, another unique one. I've got two more that come off the top of my head if we have time.

Liza Holland [00:19:37]:
Absolutely.

Yajaira Aich West [00:19:40]:
One is with the Bluegrass Community Action Partnership. This is another one that's out in like Frankfurt and Woodford county and Boyle County. They wanted to really focus in a program for their father or father figures of the Head Start children. And so we brought them all in for after school healthy meal and provided STEM activities for these father. Father figures. Male, you know, role models.

Liza Holland [00:20:06]:
Yeah.

Yajaira Aich West [00:20:06]:
And so the families came together. We provided dinner. They got to learn how to do a lot of STEM activities. And then each family went home with a whole gift of a science kit and how to extend the learning beyond just that one night together. So it was really fun. There was about 303 families that got were had the opportunity to participate in this program and it was, you know, it was just something beautiful that they wouldn't be able to do otherwise. And then even kind of to wrap this all together. So the national center for Families and Learning provided training and they called it the let's learn Together Outside.

Yajaira Aich West [00:20:47]:
And so they provided this training to early childhood education centers, practitioners and families and they are training them how to play outside. I think some of us have forgotten how to do that and how to do play based learning. And so they put together this brand new curriculum funded by the PNC foundation and are taking it out to the communities and just helping get families more engaged outdoors together and learning. And so just that puts a little bow. Getting back to the nature based playgrounds.

Liza Holland [00:21:17]:
Yeah, absolutely.

Yajaira Aich West [00:21:18]:
There's so many ways to make positive impacts and these are just some of the ways that we have found to help support these families.

Liza Holland [00:21:25]:
And how many wonderful partnerships that you've listed just even, you know, in our discussion here that amplify. Right. I mean, I can imagine, I think that you do have a fabulous job because you can sit back and go, wow, look at this. We are really having an impact on the future of our society. So I think that's awesome.

Yajaira Aich West [00:21:44]:
Definitely, definitely a team effort. It's not just me, but we've got plenty of team and it's really fun.

Liza Holland [00:21:49]:
Can I touch back just a little bit about economic development and what you're doing in that space? Because I'm curious.

Yajaira Aich West [00:21:56]:
Sure. So one of the priorities within the PNC foundation is economic development. And we've kind of narrowed it down a little bit and we focus a lot on affordable housing with our economic development and upskilling our adult workforce. So we partner with nonprofits who have clientele that are either seeking first homes and just need some education around, you know, how to buy your first house. We're working with partners who are advocating for affordable housing and building more. All our communities have, you know, lack of affordable housing and we try to help support those nonprofits in that space. And then for the job skills training, we're really working with agencies like Jubilee Jobs and the Lexington Rescue Mission that I'm familiar with in Lexington, who provide the programming to help upskill adults who either want a new career trajectory or, or just want a management job. You know, they've been in with a certain role, but they just don't know how to the skills needed to get to that next level.

Yajaira Aich West [00:23:07]:
And so we have, we partnered with a lot of these organizations who are doing that critical work and helping fund their programs to help expand their reach. And it's really beautiful to watch.

Liza Holland [00:23:17]:
Excellent.

Liza Holland [00:23:17]:
I'll bet. So you've. We've talked about incredible amounts of the positive with all of this. Tell me about what the challenges are.

Yajaira Aich West [00:23:26]:
Right. I know. I can talk about all the good stuff all day.

Liza Holland [00:23:28]:
I know, I know.

Yajaira Aich West [00:23:30]:
But you're right, there are some challenges. Several of these challenges at play are around in the early childhood space. One key challenge that PNC and a couple of other organizations that we're working with addresses the severe shortage of qualified child care and early childhood education professionals. We understand like, and it's hard to solve these childcare challenges. It's. But we want to help provide some solutions or help support people that are looking for these solutions because it really, at the end of the day, strengthens the Kentucky workforce in our growing economy. One thing that recently we've helped support was PNC supported the Kentucky Chamber, which is like, what? Why? Who? That and the Kentucky Chamber foundation, they produced a research package that offers a Roadmap for action that combines recommendations, the economic impact estimates. It's this full package that helps address the early childhood education shortage of the professionals.

Yajaira Aich West [00:24:35]:
The end package is called A Foundation for Action, Shared Solutions to Child Care Challenges in Kentucky. So it's a long name, but it's on the Kentucky Chamber website.

Liza Holland [00:24:47]:
Super. I'll make sure to link that in.

Yajaira Aich West [00:24:49]:
The show notes if somebody wants to. Yeah, somebody wants to look at it. But this, it's research and it highlights 37 recommendations to expand access, improve quality, and better align childcare with our Kentucky workforce needs. So that was really fun. The research just happened in 2025 or the roadmap came out this year. So it's really new and it's something that was really neat that PNC helped support because it's such a important thing to our economy. Another way that PNC is addressing the shortage of childcare workers is there's a group based in Louisville. They're called the Community Coordinated Child Care, lovingly known as 4C.

Yajaira Aich West [00:25:32]:
It's kind of easier that way. But that grant was funded by the PNC foundation, and it helped teachers or it helped individuals that wanted to pursue the Child Development Associate credentials. So that is the first step for individuals who want to go into this field. And it's the minimum requirement for some Head Start for the early Head Start teachers and Head Start assistant teachers. So the grant helps support really those individuals wanting to pursue this credential and funding it. And then something else that the foundation supported the YMC of Greater Louisville. So again in Louisville, their early learning readiness program. So this actually helped empower parents and caregivers to be their child's first teacher.

Yajaira Aich West [00:26:20]:
So it brought all this information home. And you know, we can't just rely on our teachers to do that, but the kids are with, you know, caregivers the rest of the day. So let's empower their caregivers with the tools and resources to be that child's first teacher. So that grant really focused on the caregivers.

Liza Holland [00:26:40]:
I think that's fantastic. And you know, I think you going back to your return on investment, the problem with early childhood care is there is no return on investment for the people who want to go into that area. You know, unfortunately, the pay rates for folks that are taking care of our youngest at their most formative years are really kind of below poverty level. Right. So I love the fact that you're investing in being able to at least get them the credentials so they don't have debt and poor pay rates. You know, I mean, and this, this can be a call to action for all the rest of you business people out there. We, we probably need some investment in that area to, to upgrade everything. Right?

Yajaira Aich West [00:27:26]:
For sure. There's not enough investment right now and PNC can't do it alone.

Liza Holland [00:27:29]:
Nope, Absolutely you can't. And, but wow, what a, what a significant investment that you're making in our society.

Liza Holland [00:27:36]:
And so thank you so very, very much for that.

Yajaira Aich West [00:27:39]:
Thank you. Thank you.

Liza Holland [00:27:41]:
So unfortunately we are coming to the close of our time, so I need to ask you this final question.

Yajaira Aich West [00:27:47]:
Oh my goodness. Okay, go ahead.

Liza Holland [00:27:48]:
What would you like for decision makers.

Liza Holland [00:27:50]:
To know and you can define what.

Liza Holland [00:27:52]:
Decision, who decision makers are?

Yajaira Aich West [00:27:54]:
Oh, man, there's so many.

Liza Holland [00:27:58]:
I know. Big questions front and back.

Yajaira Aich West [00:28:01]:
I know, right? Thanks. Off the top. Okay, so I want them to know that investing in our education system and specifically for pre K, Pre K for all matters, it matters, it is making. It will make a difference if our, if, if our decision makers know that investing early can really help us in the future and long term, in a nutshell, that's what I want them to know. But specifically, there's a lot of data that, you know, half, more than half of our Kentucky kiddos are arriving to kindergarten already behind some of their peers. And our decision makers can really make a difference there. Investing in pre K specifically, it grows our Kentucky economy. You know, like there's so many long term benefits and like you said earlier, people just think that, you know, all these little Kiddos are just playing.

Yajaira Aich West [00:28:57]:
But no, they're our future. You know, they're the reason that's who we need to invest in because it helps grow our economy. I found a statistic, actually, where did I find the Kentucky pre K for all program? It's got a website and it. There's a stat there that says $1 spent on pre K generates $10 in benefits. And this was a study done by Yale. So again, that investment, just $1 right now in a pre K can yield $10. Like come on, you can't get any better than that.

Liza Holland [00:29:31]:
No.

Yajaira Aich West [00:29:32]:
Other long term studies show that high quality Pre K programs increase our labor force in the future, increase the participants in our labor, it reduces interactions with the criminal justice system. It promotes behaviors that improve the long term health of the individual. But as our community. So there's just. I want our decision makers, I want. You asked me to define whether it's business leaders or legislature. I want them to know that pre K for all can really help build stronger families and increase our Kentucky economy. Period.

Liza Holland [00:30:09]:
Absolutely. Could not have said it better myself. And you're right, there is so much research to support that.

Liza Holland [00:30:16]:
So thank you so very much.

Liza Holland [00:30:19]:
I really appreciate you taking the time because I didn't even realize the breadth and depth. I always had a very fond impression of pnc but I had no idea the full breadth and depth of what you are doing to really enrich our entire society. So thank you so much.

Yajaira Aich West [00:30:36]:
This is float by and I appreciate your podcast. I've learned a lot and that you are taking the time to do this. I appreciate your the opportunity for me as a PNC employee to get engaged and to tell our story. We're just one of one person in this space that I know you, you have such impact. So I really appreciate you taking the time to let me tell this story and I think all of us, everybody here that is listening and beyond, you know, we can really make the state of Kentucky stronger and it's all by investing in education.

Liza Holland [00:31:09]:
That's.

Yajaira Aich West [00:31:09]:
That's how we can do it.

Liza Holland [00:31:11]:
Absolutely. Well, thank you again. You had. I really appreciate you you being on Education Perspectives.

Yajaira Aich West [00:31:18]:
Oh my pleasure. Thank you for having me. You're wonderful. Thank you.

Liza Holland [00:31:23]:
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Education Perspectives.

Liza Holland [00:31:27]:
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Liza Holland [00:31:30]:
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