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

project provides monthly training sessions for directors
and on–site technical assistance to any program
interested in working toward accreditation. A
home–based accreditation project offers similar services
to family home and group care providers. Quality
enhancement grants are available to assist child care
providers with expenses related to accreditation, including
training, supplies and equipment. A total of $45,000 has
been awarded in the past two years. United Way has now
indicated that all of the child care centers it funds must
be accredited by December 2002.
The second signature quality initiative is the sponsorship
of a 37–week Child Development Associate (CDA) class
at Pennsylvania State University at York (Penn State
York) that allows the students to receive nine college
credits that may be applied at Penn State York. A
mentoring program also is available to assist
home–based providers to attain CDAs, a special project
that Focus on Our Future has funded through Child Care
Consultants, Inc. Through the efforts of Focus on Our
Future and Penn State York, York County child care
providers are able to participate in T.E.A.C.H., a
state–funded scholarship program to help individuals
to earn their associate degree. The availability of the
T.E.A.C.H. scholarship program led Penn State York to
develop an associate degree with an emphasis in early
childhood.
Focus on Our Future has sought to create connections
across the state for its support of increased professional
development and compensation for child care teachers.
The initiative is part of a state–wide pilot project,
sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Public
Welfare, to create a voluntary professional development
record for child care teachers. It also is one of three
Pennsylvania sites involved in the Gateways professional
development project, sponsored by Wheelock College.
A Finance Commission of nearly 50 community leaders
was created in 1999 to develop a ten–year plan to more
adequately finance quality child care in York County. The
planning process is designed to solidify the leadership in
the civic community; to increase knowledge and expertise
about child care, its impact and cost; and ultimately to
forge a community strategy to secure greater public and
private sector investment in child care in the county. By
the fall of 2000 the Finance Commission intends to
produce a report on the issues and provide strategic
recommendations to guide its financing advocacy. The
Finance Commission was preceded by extensive public
education efforts, including an annual public forum
designed to educate and mobilize the community.
The success of Focus on Our Future and the York
Foundation in engaging the community around the issues
of child care quality and financing enabled the York
Foundation to attract a $500,000 challenge grant from
the Heinz Endowments to encourage private sector
investment in child care. These funds will assist seven
child care centers to build endowments and enable the
York Foundation to create an endowment for the ongoing
work of Focus on Our Future.
HOW FUNDS DISTRIBUTED
The United Way of York County distributes the funds
raised to support Focus on Our Future. The Focus on Our
Future Commission develops and approves the annual
budget.
POPULATION SERVED
Focus on Our Future has a long–term goal of affecting
the quality and affordability of child care programs for all
children under the age of 6 in York County. At present,
child care centers, home–based programs and child care
teachers may participate in specially funded initiatives.
STRATEGIC CONSIDERATIONS
• Focus on Our Future is a partnership between the
United Way of York County and several other
organizations in the area. The partnership is seen as
central to the work of this initiative and critical to its
success. United Way determined that the effort would
be more successful if it tapped into expertise and
leadership available from the broader community.
• Focus on Our Future shows how smaller communities,
with limited private–sector resources, can create a
planning and grants process to focus greater attention
on child care issues. Focus is staffed by one full–time
staff person, who has been able to use the network
of existing relationships in the community to improve
communication on child care issues and to create a
higher degree of commitment to high quality child
care. The volunteer leadership of the commission
emphasizes the role of a dedicated, expert staff
person in realizing the mission of the initiative.
• Business leaders have been involved in the community
work of Focus on Our Future (i.e. its commission and
various planning activities). Initially, Focus on Our
Future planned to work with businesses to examine
child care and family life policies, but learned the staff
needed to educate more business leaders about child
care before such a project could be successful.
• The Focus on Our Future Commission has been a
highlight of the work. The original planners sought to
secure diverse representation for this group and were
successful in engaging many well–regarded community
leaders. Participation on the commission is seen as a
sign of community leadership.
• Focus on Our Future has been aided by the
commitment of a well–respected, local business
leader/philanthropist, who has developed expertise on
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