Research has consistently found that investments in early childhood development are crucial for economic prosperity. Comprehensive, high-quality early care and learning programs—particularly those that begin at birth—help parents participate in the workforce and, in the long-term, pay for themselves through improved outcomes for children and increased earnings and skills for parents. When infants and toddlers cannot access high-quality care, there are immediate costs to both businesses and families: insufficient care for children under three costs parents an estimated $37 billion and businesses $13 billion a year in lost earnings, productivity and revenue.
Both counties and businesses are prioritizing investments in child care as a way to recruit and retain employees and support local economic recovery. Counties can take advantage of this momentum and these shared goals by bringing business leaders into existing prenatal-to-three (PN-3) coalition tables or other efforts. Once engaged, business leaders can play an important role in advancing these efforts by championing the importance of the first three years, representing business interests in child care coalitions and sharing their skills and expertise with the early childhood workforce.
Key Strategies
Partner with chambers of commerce and other stakeholders to offer training on effective business practices, especially for home-based child care providers. Many child care providers enter the field because they are passionate about caring for young children and may not have experience opening and running a small business. Through partnerships with local chambers of commerce, community colleges or child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs), counties can help child care providers access business development and training opportunities. Focusing on home-based child care is particularly important for addressing the need for infant/toddler care because 30 percent of infants and toddlers use home-based child care as their primary care arrangement, compared to 12 percent in centers. Counties can also start or support a shared service alliance, where multiple child care sites share specific costs and resources to create sustainable operations and quality programming.
Lewis County and Jefferson County, N.Y.: The counties’ economic development departments partnered with the local CCR&R and Jefferson Community College to create a “bootcamp” for people interested in opening a home-based child care program. Participants received support with the licensing process, took courses on child development free of charge and received training on running a small business. The program has led to the establishment of seven new child care providers serving nearly 60 children.
Alachua County, Fla.: The Children’s Trust of Alachua County partnered with the Greater Gainesville Chamber of Commerce and the Business Leadership Institute for Early Learning to create a masterclass on business practices for center and home-based child care providers. The curriculum, taught by subject matter experts from local businesses, covers finance, marketing, human resources and real estate.
““Practitioners really are overloaded with the work that they do as front line responders in working with families and children and I think that they don’t often have access and opportunity to speak to or interact with those who can really make changes to policies. The idea [of the fellowship] is to bring together a cadre of business and community leaders who have influence and can speak for those early childhood providers in order to make changes to policy across our state and in our region.””
Develop PN-3 champions within the business community. When equipped with the right knowledge and talking points, business leaders can be powerful messengers for the importance on investments in PN-3. Counties can work with local PN-3 stakeholders to create or support fellowships or educational programs that educate business leaders outside of the early childhood sector on the importance of early investments. Local government can also lead the way in promoting family friendly polices such as supporting paid leave and partnering with business leaders to offer subsidized child care supported with private sector dollars.
Porter County, Ind. – First Things First Porter County runs the Strosacker Early Learning Fellowship (SELF), which convenes business leaders to hear presentations from national experts on brain development, high quality early learning and economic and workforce development. Fellows also hear from local business leaders about their involvement in early learning and engage in discussions and group work. At the end of the program, Fellows walk away with an action plan.
Include business partners in local child care coalitions. Business networks like chambers of commerce can collect data on employees’ child care needs and help local coalitions make the case for increased investments in child care.
Deschutes County, Ore. – In response to COVID-19’s impact on the local economy and workforce, the Bend Chamber of Commerce joined with local higher education institutions, health systems and child care providers to create the Deschutes County Child Care Coalition. Together these stakeholders developed a proposal that will build capacity for existing providers serving children birth to five, develop a new pipeline for the child care workforce through the local state university and community college and create a business accelerator program that will provide education, advising and start-up grants for new child care operators. The Deschutes County Board of Commissioners granted $6.6 million ARPA funds to support these efforts, which emphasizes the availability of high-quality child care as a top priority for the county.
Additional resources:
ReadyNation: Business Leaders Supporting Child Care
If your county is looking for a business leader who is a strong PN-3 champion, you can reach out to ReadyNation and request a speaker.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation: Equity in Childcare is Everyone’s Business
Bipartisan Policy Center: Child Care is a Business Affair
Advocates for Children of New Jersey: It’s Good for Business! Employers’ Role in Strengthening Child Care
