child care - Digital Library Collections

THE STATE OF AMERICA'S CHILDREN YEARBOOK 1998
Childhood Development (ECD) Initiative aims to
broaden the commitment to and responsibility for
early childhood education. Participants, who work
as volunteers, include representatives from the
United Way, the city and county governments, the
Chamber of Commerce, the Catholic diocese of
Rochester, and local foundations. Every year they
review local needs, gaps in service, and available
resources and then collaborate on solutions. Public
and private dollars go toward three broad efforts:
( I) making child care more affordable and available
by supporting more child care subsidies and higher
reimbursement rates for providers; (2) expanding
supply by creating new child care facilities, family
learning and resource centers, and a home instruction
program for preschool students; and (3) improving
quality through the accreditation of more
child care centers and family child care homes,
educational scholarships for staff, a public awareness
campaign about the importance ofgood early
childhood education, and new associations to bring
the arts into child development programs and science
and technology into the preschool curriculum.
Recently, the ECD initiative took on a new
task to help Rochester effectively use its share of
state funds for New York's prekindergarten program.
The participants in the initiative convened a
committee to develop an initial prekindergarten
plan for the school district. Because the district
faces a shortage of classroom space but wants to
reduce class size, the committee recommended using
space that the ECD initiative previously helped
develop in community child care and Head Start
facilities. The committee also proposed a partnership
with the school district that would give the
initiative a pivotal role in launching and running
the prekindergarten program.
Corporate involvement in Texas. In Fort Worth,
Texas, 10 companies have made a three-year commitment
to the Corporate Champions program.
Companies have not only donated funds totaling
$360,000 but have also pledged the involvement of
a high-level executive. The money supports equipment
grants for child care centers, scholarships for
family child care providers working toward accredi-
tation, resource and referral services for member
companies' employees, training for child care workers,
work-family seminars, and the development
and distribution of materials promoting highquality
child care and family-friendly work policies.
Moving Forward: A 1998 Agenda
for Action
Three ongoing developments provide a powerful
impetus for action on child care issues:
escalating work requirements for families on
welfare, increasing awareness of the importance of
the fIrst three years of life, and growing concern
about school-age children left home alone. In 1998
we must move forward with new strategies and
investments ensuring that parents have reliable
child care, that infants and toddlers get the nurturing
and stimulation they need for future learning,
that older children have after-school activities that
keep them out oftrouble and help them succeed in
school, and that parents who wish to stay home
during their children's early years have the opportunity
and support to do so.
We can meet these goals only through partnerships
that draw together resources from the public
and private sectors. In 1998 a broad-based coalition
will be working at all levels-federal, state, and
local-to expand the child care options of American
families.
At the federal level, advocates should:
• Lobby for a guaranteed $20 billion to the states
over fIve years to strengthen the quality of
child care for all families and make child care
more affordable. Improving the quality and
availability of care for children under 3 and
children of school age should be a special priority,
given the alarming gaps in the quality and
supply ofcare for these groups.
• Campaign to reauthorize Head Start with
more funds targeted to infants and toddlers
and additional funds to move Head Start toward
serving all eligible children who need it.
• Support an extension of the Family and Medical
Leave Act to cover all employers with 25 or
46 CHI L D R EN'S D E FEN S E FUN D