Community Meeting Notes: Early care and learning

WPF has made substantial investments in early care and learning at the regional and state levels. Grant making focused on increasing public sector support for early childhood programs and on improving the effective use of these resources via standards and accountability through data collection and assessment of outcomes.  The past eight years represent unprecedented advancement for the Pennsylvania system of early childhood supports.  The impact of transitions in state government and the current economic and political constraints need to be considered.

We invited local and national representatives of the provider sector (both for- and nonprofit), academia, funders, and the public sector, to discuss potential approaches to improve the quality of care for young children in a variety of domains, with the following questions:  

What are the gaps related to fundamental needs of young children that are not being addressed—such as infant and toddler care, children’s physical and behavioral health—and what are the opportunities for the Foundation to play a role? What should the focus of our efforts be, given the constraints on the public sector, to maintain progress and advance the work?  Apart from funding actual child care slots for children, what efforts can we undertake locally to improve quality of care?  How can we build on our work in the shared services arena?  Are there new business models in early care and education we should explore? What approach can we take to transition issues from early care to K-12, given the challenges facing the School District of Philadelphia? Is there a way to take advantage of healthcare reform to benefit young children?

Major Points from the Discussion

The field is likely to evolve into a tiered set of providers - those able to create and manage local centers within a consolidated operating system and those operating single or small clusters of programs.  Economic factors are driving this trend.  Expanded health care and social services and the need for data-based decision-making call for providers to be able to scale up.

Sustain and advance the investment and commitment to data collection, assessment, and decision-making at the center level.

As the field matures, a new generation of leaders, managers, and practitioners need to step in. This leadership group needs to represent the diversity of the workforce, community, and region.

Be alert to challenges that may weaken the current array of federal, state and local resources.

Address the public policy issues to enable providers to collaborate with the public sector agencies serving their children and families.

Guidance to WPF

Support the dialogue on the consolidation issue, and require quality care in the consolidation process.  What factors should be considered when exploring how to build the next phase of Early Care in the region?  What does a tiered system look like?

Providers see a role for the Foundation in mapping user needs – as both market analysis and service delivery issues

Consolidation can be a challenging venture for the enterprise owner.  This is “new space” for nonprofit leaders.  Can WPF bridge the gap (research, access to experts, field trips, etc.) for the executives and boards of providers looking to grow an effective business model?  Consolidation includes expanded infrastructure as well as facilities.

While there is wide support for an assessment process, there are strong views about how to assess.  There may be a role for WPF’s research and policy capacities.

The Foundation should continue to support its investment in the use of data and in the shared services systems that it has nurtured.

As this field matures, there is increasing interest in research on disrupted attachment relationships and exposure to violence at home and in the community.  The research could be translated into professional development options for staff.

Build a demonstration model of a comprehensive, high quality early learning program that helps lower the barrier to cost and growth and encourages shared service alliances.

Invest in the policy front in two ways:  Protect the current policy and resource allocations and advance state and local policies and practices that will support the delivery of good services and remove the cross-agency barriers facing the providers.

Address the issue of recruiting talented individuals to work at all levels and types of early childhood development programs, and foster emerging leaders.

Support the re-framing of how to discuss the ECE workforce to address inadequate compensation and career ladder.

Support new models of professional development (degrees or certification).  Address the opportunity to influence the diversity of staff with board and executives.  Pilot a fellowship program.