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Issue 6—November/December 1995

Public Private Partnerships in Child Care

Table of Contents

up arrowPublic/Private Partnerships Work for Families

More than 250 representatives from 44 states and the District of Columbia gathered to attend the fourth annual National State Child Care Administrators' Conference "Child Care for the 21st Century," sponsored by the Child Care Bureau, in Washington D.C., September 27-28, 1995. This planning conference focused on developing strategies for enhancing the delivery of comprehensive child care services, and included opportunities to share state initiatives, to discuss emerging issues, and to hear about the latest child care research.

Several key presenters spoke of the struggles families face in balancing work and family, and the pivotal role that child care plays in helping families maintain economic self-sufficiency. A special plenary session was devoted to public/ private partnerships as an essential aspect of building quality child care for the next century that is both accessible and affordable. Presenters Dana Friedman, Co-President of the Families and Work Institute, and Melinda Green, Director of Child Care Connection, Inc., and President of the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), noted that the future development of the field of employer supports for working parents depends upon the formation of innovative and creative partnerships between the public, private, and voluntary sectors. According to Friedman, "There is clearly some overlay between the states' vision of comprehensive services for families in need and the corporate sector's recognition of the value of helping employees to balance their family and work roles. The key to fulfilling these goals lies in creative partnering, involving business representatives in the planning stages, and designing mechanisms that allow for local communities to determine how best to meet their needs."

Over the past few years, there have been numerous studies and reports which recognize that family-friendly policies support the needs of the changing workforce, promote healthier and more productive lives, and contribute important investments in the future. Interest in public/ private partnerships appears to be growing across the country. During the State Administrators' Conference, Joan Lombardi, Associate Commissioner of the Child Care Bureau, stated, "We need to encourage and promote such innovations, particularly those focused on improving the overall quality of care for children in a community, and those initiatives that will improve and expand services to children of low-income working families."

It is clear that partnership activities are expanding throughout the country. Community innovations have made great progress in expanding services and improving quality care for children.

This issue of the Child Care Bulletin highlights some examples of working partnerships in which families, businesses, and the public sector are finding successful strategies to strengthen and support families in the balance between their work and family life.

up arrowCorporate Commitment to Child Care Pays Off by Sarah Fishman

During the 1970's, American corporations began to offer child care assistance to employees. The experience of business leaders has shown that providing employees with child care assistance can reduce worker turnover, decrease absenteeism, shorten periods of maternity leave, lift morale, and improve productivity. Employee surveys often rank family-friendly benefits as second only to salaries as reasons for remaining with a particular company.

Corporate commitment to child care can take many forms, as illustrated by the following examples.

NationsBank,

Charlotte, North Carolina, has invested $25 million to provide child care benefits to 65,000 employees. Child Care Plus, a subsidy program, is one of the benefits offered. Qualifying employees must work at least 60 consecutive days, 20 hours or more per week, and earn below a given salary level.

The company also offers an incentive for families to choose higher quality care by reimbursing care expenses for a licensed facility at a higher rate than for legally operated licensed-exempt care.

NationsBank has seen positive results with the subsidy program. The turnover rate among employees using the program is less than half of that for others in the same job categories. In a survey conducted by Work/Family Directions, Inc., 62% of the respondents said that the program affected their decision to remain at the bank.

Neuville Industries,

a hosiery manufacturer located in Hildebran, North Carolina, has a workforce of more than 600 employees. The company has an on-site center serving 79 children, ages six weeks to five years. To ensure high quality care, the center operates below its licensed capacity of 108 children and maintains lower staff/child ratios than the state requires. As needed, the center opens on Saturdays for employees on weekend shifts.

Parents pay about 60% of the cost of care, and Neuville Industries subsidizes the remaining cost. Employees receive 21-26 days of free child care per year, based on seniority. The company also subsidizes near-site care for employees working evening shifts.

Providing for child care is one of the reasons that Neuville Industries maintains a notably low employee turnover rate of about 34%, compared with the industry average of 80-100%.

Marriott Corporation,

the hospitality and lodging corporation with headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, employs more than 175,000 people worldwide. Two of its hotels have formed a partnership with the Omni Hotel at CNN Center and the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta. They have established a non-profit organization and broken ground for a 24-hour child care center. This center will meet the needs of 1,000 hourly wage shift workers. In addition, other businesses, the city of Atlanta, along with Fulton County, and community organizations, joined in the effort. Project support comes from Child Care and Development Block Grant funds, through the Georgia Child Care Council.

Marriott also operates a 24-hour telephone referral service to assist employees with a variety of work and family issues. Since more than 26 different languages are spoken throughout the corporation, social workers speak the predominate languages of workers in a given area.

For more information about the three corporations highlighted in this article, contact the following persons:

NationsBank: Kim Hains, (704) 386-5175

Neuville Industries: Chris Gates, (704) 397-5566

Marriott Corporation: Donna Klein, (301) 380-8850.

Sarah Fishman, formerly a Program Specialist with ACF Region I, is active in the Boston area child care community.

up arrowSpotlight on...

DuPont Corporation:

A survey of 18,000 employees at DuPont Corporation documents the correlation between employee commitment and the company s efforts to support employees in balancing work and family responsibilities. This information, combined with two previous DuPont studies, provides a decade of work/life data. The results of the study clearly indicate that work/life programs are a powerful tool to motivate people and encourage commitment to achieving business objectives, said John A. Krol, Dupont President and CEO-designate. Listed below are some of the findings:

  • Employees using work/life programs are more committed, and not likely to feel overwhelmed or burned out.
  • Employee programs have reduced the number of workers who report problems finding affordable care, care for sick children or care during business travel or overtime.

For more information about the DuPont study, contact Heidi Rowann at: (302) 774-0863.

up arrowHonor Roll Companies Take the Lead by Lauren Asher

The Women's Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor has launched the Working Women Count Honor Roll, a nationwide initiative to improve the lives of working families. The Honor Roll encourages employers, organizations, and individuals to implement policies and programs in three areas: improving pay and benefits, building a family friendly workplace, and valuing women's work through training and advancement. A quarter of a million women identified these priority areas in the 1994 Women s Bureau Working Women Count survey. By treating women with dignity, helping people to balance work and family responsibilities, and improving pay and benefits, Honor Roll members will make life better for all families, said Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich.

Karen Nussbaum, director of the Women s Bureau, summarized the potential impact of this initiative, We want the Honor Roll to build momentum for practical, concrete change. We predict that over the next year, more than a million working Americans will be able to see the effects: a new child care center, time off for family responsibilities, and professional development training.

The Women s Bureau plans to collect 1,000 Honor Roll pledges by next spring. The Bureau has already gathered more than 400 pledges from businesses, community organizations, state and local governments, and labor unions. These pledges include a variety of initiatives, such as flexible work schedules, personal leave time, on-site child care and training for higher paying jobs. The Honor Roll pledges come from various sources, ranging from the relatively small McAlvain Construction company in Boise, Idaho, to the international corporation, Bausch and Lomb; from an apprenticeship program in Anchorage, Alaska, to a pledge from the city of Kansas City, Missouri.

A few examples of Honor Roll pledges that emphasize child care initiatives are listed below.

  • The Little Hoop Community College, Fort Totten, North Dakota, discovered an unmet need for child care through their participation in the Working Women Count survey. As a result, a child care center was created and the college is working in partnership with local businesses to raise money for a major community child care center.
  • GTE Corporation in Needham, Massachusetts offers emergency care on snow days and school holidays, allows employees to bring their children to work, and has private nursing rooms for new mothers.
  • Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 2 in San Francisco, California is establishing a child and elder care fund for hotel employees, one of the largest ever negotiated by a union. Employers will contribute five cents for every hour worked by members.
  • Oregon Community Foundation's Oregon Child Development Fund in Portland has pledged to raise $900,000 over three years to fund job training for hundreds of infant/toddler child care providers. The goal is to increase the supply and quality of child care for infants and toddlers throughout the state.
  • The American Home Products Corporation, Madison, New Jersey, has pledged to establish an on-site child care center and provide tuition assistance for employees with annual family incomes under $70,000. This new facility offers care for infants and preschoolers as well as a full-day kindergarten, care for mildly ill children through age 6, and back-up care for children through age 12.
  • Quadrangle Child Care Center in Cleveland, Ohio has pledged to design and implement an intergenerational program in conjunction with Lupica Towers (a senior citizens residence) to enhance the quality of services for children and the elderly.

Anyone interested in joining the Working Women Count Honor Roll can request materials by contacting the Women s Bureau at 1-800-827-5335. Programs entered into the Honor Roll receive a certificate from the Secretary of Labor and information about the program will be made available to the public.

Lauren Asher is Communications Director for the Women s Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor. For additional information about Honor Roll pledges in a specific city or state, contact Lauren at: (202) 219-6652, ext. 107, or Grier Mendel at ext. 133.

up arrowPartnering to Support School-Age Care

After-school programs are excellent opportunities to form partnerships and community strategies that promote positive outcomes for at-risk youth. Whether the initial impetus came from a private foundation, a government initiative, or a corporate president and CEO, the following programs are community initiatives that support youth.

MOST (Making the Most of Out-of-School Time), is a five- year, $6.5 million initiative of the DeWitt Wallace-Reader s Digest Fund to improve school-age child care, especially for low income families. The project was designed in partnership with the School-Age Child Care Project (SACCProject) at the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women (see MOST Initiative, in the Child Care Bulletin, March/April 1995).

Chicago, Seattle, and Boston were selected to receive a three- year grant of $1.2 million to respond to the needs of thousands of school-age children. For each of the three cities, this implementation grant is a result of a year of collaborative planning with a variety of public and private partners with an interest in the supply and quality of school-age programs, and an interest in community development, education, and support for child care.

For more information, contact Lillian Coltin, SACCProject, Wellesley Center for Research on Women, (617) 283-2539.

Support Our Students (SOS), North Carolina s statewide initiative for providing quality, community based after-school services for at-risk students, focuses on children in their middle school years. In 1994, Governor Jim Hunt proposed SOS as a public-private partnership in which some state funding is used to leverage local and private support from schools, businesses, churches, and other community resources. In one year, SOS exceeded its three-year goal of serving 6,000 youth. SOS is now progressing well with a new goal to serve 20,000 youth and raise $5 million in private in-kind contributions in three years.

Selected county programs are funded through the state s Department of Human Resources SOS Office which provides technical assistance and promotes coordination among the programs. Additional assistance is provided through the state s Cooperative Extension Service and the Office of the Governor.

Participating organizations include Arts Councils, Boys and Girls Clubs, Junior League, United Way, Cities-In-Schools, YMCA, and various other community focused agencies. Examples of private and community support offered to SOS programs include an awards day sponsored by Cal-Tone Paints; college scholarships through Arby s; a computer tutor from Motorola; payroll and accounting services by Leith Auto; Clark-Hurth Company employee volunteers; an after-school basketball program with the Charlotte Police; and assistance for students in setting up their own small business through Smithfield s Chamber of Commerce.

For more information, contact Joe Canty, SOS Program Director, (919) 571-4848.

The 4-H After School Program is a partnership that was founded in Los Angeles, California in 1988. The program focuses on youth, ages 7 to 13, living in public housing communities. The program's resources are from a blend of U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Agriculture, corporations and local businesses, local housing authorities, land grant universities, Cooperative Extension System 4-H, National 4-H Council, local schools, city and county governments, and other public and private funding or in-kind support. Although the success of the program is due to the combined commitment of each partner, many indicate that the leadership of Roger Beach, Chair and CEO of Unocal Corporation and the innovative Vision Team approach were the real keys that brought the collaboration into being and heightened private sector awareness.

This 4-H program involves communities in improving the quality of life for themselves and others residing in public housing units. As a positive alternative to youth spending time alone after school, 4-H offers opportunities to work on academic studies, 4-H learn by doing projects, community service, nutrition and fitness education.

Operating every day, 50 weeks a year, and serving more than 1,200 youth, the success of the program in Los Angeles has prompted HUD to commit funds to expand that program from 23 to 51 sites, and to begin a similar program in Kansas City, Oakland, and Philadelphia. Each community has organized a Vision Team, consisting of representatives from the business, education, government, and community sectors.

For more information, contact Don MacNeil, Metro-Coordinator, National 4-H Council at: (805) 498-3937, or Nancy Valentine, USDA at: (202) 720-5578, or Beverly Hardy, HUD at: (202) 708-4214.

up arrowWorking Mother Spotlights Family Friendly Companies by Karen Mazzotta

Dedicated to helping women balance roles at home and at work, Working Mother magazine researches and addresses critical issues that impact families. The magazine is a source of information for parents on various topics, from finding good child care to pay equity, from child development and parent education to managing priorities and pressures at work.

Each year Working Mother publishes two reports highlighting child care activities. "How Does Your State Rate?" (in the March 1995 issue) examines states' commitment to child care, and "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers," (in the October 1995 issue) lists America's most innovative companies in support of working families.

How Does Your State Rate?

In the Working Mother third annual report evaluating child care in each state, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin rated the highest. Criteria for the 10 Best States include quality, availability, and safety of child care, as well as commitment of state, business, and community leaders to improving care. In addition to the ten best, North Carolina earned the distinction of "Most Exciting State" for its $47 million commitment to Smart Start, which aims to make affordable quality early education available to every child.

100 Best Companies for Working Mothers

This year marks the tenth anniversary of the list now known as the WORKING MOTHER 100, a roster that features the most innovative and advanced firms for working parents. Firms that make the list are considered role models for business, creating workplaces that offer employees both the opportunity to advance in their careers and to have a good family life. Companies are evaluated on four criteria: pay, advancement opportunities for women, support for child care (financial assistance, referrals and/or actual care), and family-friendly benefits.

In the area of child care, of the 100 firms on this year's list, 76 offer child care on-site or at a nearby site. Eleven new centers were opened in the past year by these companies: Allstate, Barnett Banks, CIGNA, Corning, Glaxo Wellcome, Lincoln National, Marriott, NationsBank, Quad/Graphics, and SAS Institute.

Some benefits that companies never considered providing a decade ago, are now fairly standard among those on the list. These include such benefits as before and after-school care, holiday care, back-up care, summer programs, and sick child care. There are many exciting child care initiatives, including IBM's commitment of $50 million to support child and elder care programs; Johnson & Johnson's new Family Child Care System of specially screened and trained providers, and their toll-free service for professional advice on child-rearing problems, from getting a baby to sleep to communicating with a sullen teenager; and Xerox Corporation's expansion of child care programs to provide infant and toddler slots and assistance for more than 3,000 employees in paying for child care. At Fel-Pro, babies are welcomed with a $1,000 savings bond, and various benefits that support the child and family continue through the college years.

When Working Mother debuted the list in 1986, it recognized only 30 firms for their family-friendly practices. Today, hundreds of employers compete to be on the list, and there is an increasing number of innovative and creative initiatives. "Our goal in creating this roster ten years ago was to call attention to corporate role models so that others would follow in their footsteps," says Judsen Culbreth, Working Mother editor-in-chief. "There's been such an outpouring of support for and interest in this project that the WORKING MOTHER 100 has taken on greater meaning: This list tracks our country's work/family revolution."

Companies from the WORKING MOTHER 100 that scored the highest rating possible in the area of child care:

Barnett Banks, Inc.

Corning Incorporated

Fel-Pro Incorporated

Glaxo Wellcome Inc.

IBM Corporation

Johnson & Johnson

SC Johnson Wax

Lancaster Laboratories, Inc.

Lincoln National Corporation

Merck & Co., Inc.

NationsBank Corporation

Quad/Graphics, Inc.

SAS Institute Inc.

Schering-Plough Corporation

Xerox Corporation

Karen Mazzotta is the publicist for Working Mother magazine.
For more information, contact (516) 549-1580.

up arrowChild Care Options for Employers

Sponsor near or on-site child care center(s)
A center can be owned or operated by the company, owned by the company and managed by a third party, or owned and operated by a subcontractor or grantee. The center is primarily for the employees of the sponsoring company.
Support a local child care center
Through a grant or contract, a local child care center can accept funds from a company or a group of companies (as in a consortium arrangement) in exchange for priority enrollment/reduced fees for employees of the contributing company.
Create or support a family child care network
Provide funds to a body representing a group of family child care homes who will provide slots to employees' children. This is particularly helpful to firms whose employees work evenings or weekends, or who have infants.
Create or support after-school care
An employer can help start a program in the community or schools to serve the needs of 6 - 13 year olds before and after-school.
Create or support a vacation/holiday program
Make a program available that serves children when school is out, including summer vacations.
Create or support back-up or emergency care
Make a program available that serves children when their regular care arrangements have fallen through or when there is an emergency.
Create or support a sick child care program
Make a program available for mildly-ill children, either as part of an existing child care center, a hospital, a free-standing program near work or in the community, or as an in-home program where qualified people are sent into the child's home.
Offer resource and referral services
Educate employees about their child care choices in the community and provide referrals to programs with openings.
Parenting seminars
Organize informational meetings on parenting issues and child care concerns.
Caregiver fairs
Arrange for local service providers to distribute information about their programs.
Vouchers The employer pays for a portion of child care expenses.
Discounts
The employer arranges for employees to be charged a reduced rate at programs of the employer's choosing.
Dependent Care Assistance Plans (DCAPs)
A mechanism that allows for employees to pay for their child care with pre-tax dollars. There is a savings to the employer, although the subsidy is actually paid for by the government.
Corporate Funds
A corporate set-aside for making grants to local organizations that agree to provide access to employees. These are not philanthropic dollars.
Corporate Contributions
Grants to local organizations to generally improve the supply or quality of child care at the local, state, or national level.
In-kind contributions
With the donation of equipment, supplies, or expertise from the company, local child care services can receive much-needed support.
Public education
The use of corporate clout can help bring attention to important child care issues. Employer representatives can serve on community-wide task forces, testify at hearings, and publicize child care issues at professional meetings.

Developed by the Families and Work Institute, 330 Seventh Avenue, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10001, (212) 465-2044.

up arrowAmerican Business Collaboration Leads Corporate Support by Randall Wong

"We believe that supporting the diverse dependent care needs of our employees is critical to our success as it enables our companies to attract and retain a productive, competitive, committed and motivated workforce. The availability of quality dependent care programs...enables our employees to do their best at work by helping them manage their work and personal responsibilities."

(In a statement signed by the CEOs of: Aetna Life & Casualty, Allstate Insurance, American Express, Amoco, AT&T, Bank of America, Chevron, Citibank, Deloitte & Touche LLP, Eastman Kodak, Exxon, GE Capital Services, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Mobil, NYNEX, Price Waterhouse LLP, Texaco, Texas Instruments, and Xerox.) The American Business Collaboration for Quality Dependent Care (ABC) is a national effort which was launched three years ago by major corporations to increase the supply and enhance the quality of child and elder care programs across the country.

During the first phase of this effort, 156 businesses, governmental entities, and not-for-profit organizations invested more than $27 million in 45 communities throughout 25 states and the District of Columbia. They have supported 355 dependent care projects which have been utilized by more than 277,000 individuals, including the dependents of employees and community residents.

The second phase of this effort began in September, 1995. In a powerful declaration of support for their employees, 21 major corporations have announced their joint commitment to a $100 million initiative to develop and strengthen school-age, child care, and elder care projects in communities throughout the country. This initiative is believed to be the largest investment ever in dependent care by the private sector.

The companies are expected to take the lead in funding more than 1,000 projects over the next six years in a major collaborative effort that includes support for research and development for national pilot programs. The focus will be on investing in programs that are innovative and replicable.

Ellen Galinsky, Co-president of the non-profit Families and Work Institute, said the scope of the additional funding will have a "dramatic impact on the dependent care community, and called the initiative "a sound investment" for the participating companies. "Our studies clearly demonstrate that for every dollar companies spend on work-life programs, they get back a return in terms of retention, reduced stress, and greater loyalty," she said. Chief executive officers of the ABC lead companies have stated that their support for dependent care was based on bottom line business factors.

Mary Kay Leonard, vice president for Work/Family Directions, the Boston-based consulting firm which facilitates the collaborative process, said that in the next phase of this effort there will be a greater emphasis on quality improvement, increased focus on developing services that meet the specific needs of working parents such as extended hours for child care programs, and a sharp increase in projects that are specifically designed for school-age children.

At a White House ceremony on October 31, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Labor Secretary Robert Reich met with senior executives from 20 lead companies of the American Business Collaboration, as well as families of their employees, along with other business leaders from across the nation to urge employers, organizations, and individuals to join the Working Women Count Honor Roll (see related article). Encouraging every employer in the country to adopt policies that help workers balance their family and work responsibilities, the First Lady and Reich discussed employer commitment and support with families who benefit from family-friendly policies.

Among the families who met with officials at the White House was Susan O'Neil, administrative assistant at Deloitte & Touche, in Boston, along with three-year-old daughter, Stephanie. Speaking of her employer, Ms. O'Neil stated, "They give me the chance to make my balancing act a reality. Although I still work eight hours per day, I have the flexibility to do it in a time span that meets my family's needs." Her employer has a resource and referral service and a Dependent Care Flexible Spending Plan that lets her put aside part of her pay before taxes to spend on child care. "We ask you the government, and you the employer, to help us, the working people, to make it work. We can't do it alone. The bottom line is we need to put stock in families, we need to invest in families to help make this country a great, safe and healthy place to live and work."

To learn more about ABC, contact Randy Wong, Work/Family Directions, Inc., (800) 767-9863.

up arrowChild Care Partnerships Emerge Across the Country

Colorado

Colorado Governor Roy Romer has created a Business Commission on Child Care Financing to study ways to finance quality child care. Chaired by the president of the First Bank in Denver, the Commission is to present recommendations to the governor, state lawmakers, and the business community by January 1.

The Commission includes representatives from AT&T, Channel 9, Colorado AFL-CIO, Coors Brewing Co., Copper Mountain, the Denver Business Journal, Hyatt Regency, Time Warner Cable, United Airlines, Lockheed, and others. Their expertise will be used to assess funding sources, develop multi-sector financing approaches, and motivate the business community to look into child care financing reform from a business and economic standpoint.

To learn more, call Sam Williams, Coordinator, Colorado Business Commission on Child Care Financing, at: (303) 866-5860.

Grand Ronde Tribe

Located in Oregon, the Grand Ronde Tribe is implementing a benefits package for all tribal employees that includes a 50% match for child care assistance. Relying mostly on family child care providers, the tribe partners with the statewide resource and referral network and the Child Care Resource Center to assist providers with licensing and training.

Tribal members are considering new ventures, such as a center-based program for infants, and creating a youth center facility to house partnering agencies. This would include CCDBG supported community pre-school, before and after-school programs, YCAP which operates the county Head Start program, Johnson O'Malley cultural education programs and several others.

To learn more, contact Shawn Hostler or Wendy Spencer at the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation, at: (503) 879-5211.

Indiana

In November, a Symposium on Child Care Financing was convened by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration along with the Child Care Action Campaign, to bring together public and private leaders from across the state to collaborate on innovative funding strategies. Co-chaired by Indiana First Lady Susan Bayh and Mrs. Charlene Lugar, the Symposium included presentations by funding experts from an employer consortium, a single employer fund, a multi-partner fund, and a community development loan fund. Nearly 300 participants attended from 17 county teams comprised of an elected official, major employer, a community foundation, a financing institution, chamber of commerce, private industry council, public health and education agencies, a child care provider, resource and referral agency, and parents.

Corporate sponsors are providing financial support and company mentors to assist the 17 counties in implementing their proposed strategy to expand and enhance child care in their communities. At this time, the corporate sponsors include: CB Commercial, American Cablevision, Conseco, Cummins Engine, Eli Lilly & Co., Golden Rule Insurance, Ice Miller Donadio & Ryan, IPALCO Enterprises, Lincoln National Corporation, Marsh Supermarkets, Inc., the Junior League of Indianapolis, McDonald's Corporation, Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO), NBD Bank, PSI Energy, Society National Bank of Indiana, Weiss Communications/Indianapolis Woman, Wishard Memorial Hospital, St. Vincent-Community Health Network, and WISH/TV.

To learn more, contact Carole Stein, Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, at: (317) 232-1148.

Iowa

ChildNet is an employee assistance benefit program that connects families to quality child care. A comprehensive resource and referral service, ChildNet is available to employees of subscribing companies through a public-private partnership with the Iowa Child Care Resource and Referral System.

ChildNet provides direct child care assistance services to employees and a certification program for child care providers. In addition, ChildNet provides work site informational seminars on topics such as choosing infant care, single parenting, summer-care options. Additionally, they produce informational materials such as work and family articles for company newsletters and parent education materials.

To learn more, contact Karen King, Director, ChildNet/CCR&R of Central Iowa Lead Agency, at: (515) 286-2004.

Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe

Located in Washington state, the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe and its Seven Cedars Casino are working with a private partner, New Horizon Kids Quest to develop child care services. These services will include an hourly child care center for children of casino guests and a child care center serving casino and tribal employees as well as members of the surrounding community.

For more information, contact Ron Allen, Tribal Chairman, Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, (360) 681-4621 or Pete Guidera, Vice President of Development, New Horizon Kids Quest (612) 577-9201.

South Dakota

The South Dakota Department of Social Services Office of Child Care Services and the Governor's Office have joined with the Industry and Commerce Association to address child care needs. The result is a cooperative initiative called "Kids 1st with South Dakota Businesses." The program aims to help businesses to deal with issues involved in developing a child care plan.

Publications produced by the partnership include The Employer's Guide to Private and Public Child Care Solutions and the Business Profile Handbook. The Guide highlights available child care options for employers, outlining the benefits and the challenges of various choices. It includes sections on exploring organizational needs, flexible human resource policies, child care support services, and establishing on-site and near-site child care. The Handbook includes brief descriptions of businesses in South Dakota that have instituted some form of policy change in support of child care.

To learn more, contact Bobbi Brown, Administrator, Office of Child Care Services, South Dakota Department of Social Services, (605) 773-4766.

Washington

The state's policies provide for a child care partnership committee and an employer liaison to help increase employer assistance and involvement in child care. Child Care Advantages (CCA) forms the state-level connection between the Office of Child Care Policy and the Office of Business Assistance.

Supported by Washington's Departments of Social and Health Services and Community, Trade and Economic Development, CCA is designed to help employers develop effective and efficient family-friendly policies. It facilitates employee assistance in work-family issues including child and elder care, and helps generate public/private partnerships in communities.

Specifically, CCA provides businesses with financial and technical assistance in developing on-site and near-site child care facilities. Qualified businesses can receive direct loans, loan guarantees, or grants to start or expand child care facilities through a Child Care Facility Fund. The partnerships involved have created over 1,000 child care slots and leveraged close to $5 million dollars. Many of the corporate supported centers are located in rural, underserved areas.

CCA also conducts an annual conference to provide information and resources for employers who wish to implement family friendly practices, and to recognize public and private employers who make great strides in creating a family-friendly workplace.

For more information, contact Larry Macmillan, program manager for Child Care Advantages, (360) 586-3023.

up arrowCouncil on Lower-Wage Workers and Families

The Families and Work Institute (FWI) is partnering with Marriott International to create the Employer Council on Lower-Wage Workers and Their Families with start-up support through the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Most research, including the FWI's National Study of the Changing Workforce, has shown that work-family assistance is considerably more available for highly educated and highly compensated employees than for their lower wage counterparts. At the same time, the growth in this segment of the national workforce is outpacing all other groups. Even workers who can earn competitive wages find themselves challenged to make ends meet. Finding child care and other family services needed to maintain self-sufficiency is particularly difficult.

This Council will explore and challenge the way that major corporations and policymakers address the family needs of their lower-income employees, identifying key work-family issues for these workers, and innovative strategies for addressing their needs. This Council is the next step on the evolution of the work-family field -- to create champions for the needs of the low-wage workers. A group of approximately 25 major corporations, including Levi-Strauss, McDonald's, Burger King, Sears, Pepsico, ConAgra, Perdue, Wegman's, JP Morgan Delaware, Prudential Insurance, Barnett Banks, and Hyatt, as well as the U.S. General Services Administration, will meet three times during the next 18 months for discussion, debate, and brainstorming about policies and programs. The Families and Work Institute will prepare the background information and lead the discussions; academics and policy makers will brief the group on such issues as child care and welfare-to-work programs. The process will culminate in a series of recommendations that will be published by the FWI and presented to business leaders and policy makers.

up arrowSmall Business Makes Big Impact by Chuck Adams

Just over two years ago, an old hatchery building at Sanderson Farms in Collins, Mississippi was a graveyard of retired poultry processing equipment. With a lot of commitment and a little imagination, Joe Sanderson's corporate initiative transformed the facility into a modern, licensed child care center. The goal was to provide quality child care and education for the children, resulting in a less stressful environment for the parents employed by the Collins Processing and Production Division of Sanderson Farms.

Community partners and creative planning were integral to accomplishing this goal. For example, the crafting of storage shelves was a class project in carpentry for students at Collins High School Vocational Center. Also, the state Office for Children and Youth provides major funding for the center's teaching materials, supplies, equipment, and some operating expenses.

The center serves as many as 329 children over two shifts. The services offered include infant and toddler care, care for preschool children, school-age care, summer programs, and four specially designed playgrounds, including one for infants. The program provides flexibility for employees' families, opening before 4:30 a.m., and extending hours when work shifts run long. It also opens on Saturdays and holidays, whenever the plant operates.

Chuck Adams is the Director of Administration for Sanderson Farms, Inc. For more information, contact Chuck at: (601) 649-4030. up arrow

Healthy Child Care Update: North Texas by Elaine Klos

An important component of quality care is the link between the health care and the child care communities. The First Texas Council of Camp Fire in Fort Worth is leading an effort in an 18-county region of North Texas in which a collaboration of public and private entities have joined together to achieve the goal of safe and healthy child care settings.

This Healthy Child Care Coalition includes members of the child and health care communities, elected officials, and Corporate Champions, 13 major employers that support and fund high quality child care.

The Coalition is compiling a list of the programs and projects that are currently available in the public and private sectors. Using the Healthy Child Care America Blueprint (see "Healthy Child Care America Campaign Launched," in the Child Care Bulletin, July/August 1995), the Coalition will seek to answer the questions: Are services easily accessible and sufficient in number? Where are the gaps in service? Where will the funding come from to improve and develop services?

The Coalition plans to develop support mechanisms and to serve as an "information connector" for child care providers and the health care community. It will include information in a monthly newsletter to more than 4,500 child care providers.

Elaine Klos is the Advocacy Director of the First Texas Council of Camp Fire. To learn more, contact Elaine at: (817) 831-2111.

up arrowPrivate Capital Works to Enrich Care

Every child care provider, at some point, must assess the need to improve or expand their facility. Usually, they find that the resources are unavailable. Many centers receive barely enough in parent fees and state child care subsidies to meet costs, leaving little or no fund for capital improvements.

Recognizing this problem, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and the Hyams Foundation decided to start a private loan fund to improve child care in the Boston area. The result of that collaboration, the Child Care Capital Investment Fund (CCCIF), has loaned 23 centers up to $120,000 for renovations, construction, and refinancing.

Since the CCCIF began, not one center has defaulted on a loan. This success has led to a new program called "Mini Loans" to serve smaller centers. These are loans for up to $5,000 for five years, at a 5% interest rate, to be used for emergency repairs, replacing old furnishings, or purchasing new equipment.

The CCCIF uses a comprehensive approach to capital improvements. Prior to a center receiving funds, CCCIF staff make site visits to help the program director prioritize needs, identify funding sources, estimate costs and calculate the center's ability to repay the loan. In addition, CCCIF gives interest free loans for planning costs.

After a loan is made, the center receives technical help to implement the improvements. This assistance can range from finding an architect that specializes in developmentally appropriate designs, to programming computers and teaching center staff to budget for debt.

For more information, contact the CCCIF, 294 Washington Street, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02108-4608, or call: (617) 728-3028.

up arrowNational Child Care Research Consortium Formed by Bea Gold

The Child Care Bureau has announced three cooperative agreements for child care research. The partnerships will study critical child care issues, including demand, supply, and the outcomes for low-income families. The recipients will join with others in the child care field to form a National Child Care Research Consortium to create a data archive for researchers studying interrelationships among child care, welfare and work.

The recipients of the $100,000 grants were: (1) the Florida Children's Forum, in partnership with Florida, Massachusetts, Alabama and state, local, and national organizations; (2) Regional Research Institute for Human Services at Portland State University, with other Oregon partners, AT&T, and the Families and Work Institute; and (3) the National Center for Children in Poverty in the School of Public Health, in partnership with Illinois, Maryland, and specifically, Maryland Committee for Children, Illinois Child Care Resource and Referral Association, and other state and local agencies. The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA) also participates in each partnership.

To learn more, contact Pia Divine, Coordinator of the National Child Care Research Consortium, Child Care Bureau, at: (202) 690-6705, or e-mail: pdivine@acf.hhs.gov

up arrowResources in Child Care

Within each issue, the Child Care Bulletin highlights resources available to the child care community. We encourage providers, parents, administrators, and other readers to share your knowledge of what is available so that we may pass it on to the field.

Publications

  • Child Care Options: A Workplace Initiative for the 21st Century by Margery Leveen Sher and Madeline Fried

    This book examines how and why businesses can create family friendly policies for employees. It discusses child care options for businesses, facility design, licensing and resources available to employers and employees. (Available for $27.50 plus shipping from Oryx Press, 4041 N. Central Ave., Suite 700, Phoenix, AZ 85012, or call: (800) 279-6799).

  • The Work and Family Kit from the Office of Personnel Management

    The Kit is a compendium of family friendly practices, policies, resources and references available to help employees balance work and family needs. Targeted at federal agency personnel, the Kit is a valuable resource for organizations instituting child care, alternative work schedules, job-sharing, telecommuting and other employee benefits. (For availability, contact OPM s Work and Family Program Center at: (202) 606-5520).

Publications below are available from the Families and Work Institute, 330 Seventh Ave., 14th Floor, New York, NY 10001, Attn.: Publications, or call (212) 465-2044.

  • Corporate Reference Guide to Work-Family Programs by Ellen Galinsky, Dana Friedman and Carol Hernandez

    An extensive reference on work-family issues, the book addresses the questions most frequently posed by companies. Crossing 30 industries, it provides a comparative analysis of family-supportive policies in Fortune 500 companies. It contains case studies, model initiatives, and the stages of development of corporate work-family programs ($50).

  • Education Before School: Investing in Quality Child Care by Ellen Galinsky and Dana Friedman

    A guide to the supply, cost, and quality of child care in the U.S. The book includes numerous case studies of corporate initiatives to improve the quality of child care and education and includes a vision of an early childhood system for the 21st century ($15).

This page is being maintained on the NCCIC web site for historical purposes. As a result, not all information may be current.

 
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