Financing Child Care in the United States - Ewing Marion Kauffman ...

• Another guiding principle for Child Care Matters is to
strengthen existing infrastructure for child care by
building on existing programs and systems. For
example, Child Care Matters and the City of
Philadelphia agreed to use a state–funded child care
nonprofit to administer the Child Care Health and
Safety Program.
• Child Care Matters has made mid–course corrections.
In the quality improvement area, a mentor model was
used initially, but it did not provide sufficient on–site
time or assistance for the child care programs. A new
model was developed that uses a “cluster leader” who
works with a small number of child care programs
(three to four) to help them achieve accreditation.
Additionally, Child Care Matters recognized that there
was a gap in service to child care programs that could
receive assistance to meet licensing requirements but
were not yet ready to participate in accreditation. This
led the partnership to define a continuum from
start–up through accreditation.
• An independent evaluation of Child Care Matters is
being conducted by Temple University. The Temple
team is a multidisciplinary group, including faculty from
its public policy, psychology and communications
departments.
• Organizations that are not an official part of the
partnership are crucial to successful outcomes for the
initiative. Developing these strategic relationships has
been time–consuming, but it has resulted in significant
gains. For example, the president of Community
College of Philadelphia, who serves on the Governing
Committee for Child Care Matters, negotiated a unified
rate for T.E.A.C.H. for all the community colleges in the
region to enhance the early acceptance of, and
effectiveness of, T.E.A.C.H. Child Care Matters also has
enjoyed a strong working relationship with Focus on
Our Future, profiled on page 131.
• Child Care Matters has found it difficult to engage the
business community. Few businesses have their
headquarters in Philadelphia and historically the city
lacks an activist business community. To date the
Philadelphia businesses have been most engaged on
issues related to the design and implementation of
Child Care Works, the subsidized child care program,
and least engaged when the focus is on longer–term
school readiness and the educational impact of quality
child care.
OTHER SITES WITH SIMILAR STRATEGIES
Other sites that have developed multifaceted initiatives
using a private funding base include Kansas City, profiled
on page 133; Focus on Our Future, profiled on page 131;
and Early Childhood Initiative of Allegheny County,
profiled on page 121.
CONTACT
Marlene Weinstein, Project Director
Child Care Matters
7 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone (215) 665 2611
Fax (215) 665 2531
E–mail
Web
marlene@uwsepa.org
www.uwsepa.org
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