Human Capital Crisis Stretches Far Beyond Advisors

America's problems are vast and widespread, Dugger says, and they include everything from broken infrastructure – roads, bridges and so on — to changing weather patterns and proper financial planning for all in order to create a more equitable society. "We need people who can solve all those problems and we need to create those people," he says.

In gross domestic product terms, the youth human capital sector is huge, Dugger says, and it involves a host of different people, "from obstetricians to high school principals, mothers, fathers, baby clothes makers and car seat makers, to name just a few."

Investing in the sector for the future involves everything from ensuring maternal and early childhood health and nutrition to education and specialized training.

ReadyNation's research has shown that investing in children can increase regional per capita growth as successfully as any other economic development strategy, Dugger says, if not more, "so if the economic returns of investing in kids is that high, we need to finance it."

Through the years, businesses both large and small have become aware of the importance of youth human capital "and we're not going to let the country slip off the cliff," Dugger says.

ReadyNation's continues to educate local, state, national, and international policymakers about effective investments that will help business create their future workforce by investing in them early.

The organization has made great strides since its informal beginnings in 2003, Dugger says, and is working both across the nation and the world. Thanks to the organization's efforts, more than 50 global business leaders signed ReadyNation's Open Letter to the United Nations this year, asking that early childhood development be a priority in its Sustainable Development Goals Report. And leaders from eight branches of the U.S. Federal Reserve System, plus the chairman, have publicly supported early childhood investments.