Child Care Works
Background and Purpose
Child Care Works was established in 1983 by leaders Minnesota's child care community. Its mission is to achieve and sustain affordable, high quality child care for the families and communities of Minnesota. Child Care Works is a coalition of parents, early childhood professionals, anti-poverty and school readiness advocates, child care resource and referral agencies, and community groups.
Child Care Works has two main focus areas. First is supporting public policies that increase the quality, accessibility and availability of child care. Secondly, Child Care Works educates the public about early care and education issues. Primary strategies for advancing its mission include advocacy and public policy, community organizing, and public education and communication. The organization's work is carried out by 4.1 FTEs.
Current Request
Historically the executive director of Child Care Works has also led its organizing efforts. As managing the organization's growth has increasingly demanded more administrative capacity, the organization has recently hired a Lead Organizer to lead its public policy work so that the Executive Director can focus on organizational development.
The organization is proposing to launch the Act for Quality Early Care and Education for All (Act for Quality) Project to take its public policy efforts to a more proactive and intense level. There are two distinct phases in the Act for Quality: Phase I will focus on gathering and analyzing relevant current, local, regional and national research to identify best practices and gaps in the current child care and early education ecosystem. The findings, coupled with input from consumers and early education and child care professionals, will inform possible models to create a child care and early education system that builds on strengths and addresses structural weaknesses.
Findings and recommendations will be articulated in a "white paper." The white paper will be presented to a variety of constituent groups throughout the state to further inform the final design of a model. Child Care Works is requesting $27,000 to help finance the Lead Organizer position and Phase I of the Act for Quality.
During Phase II, slated for 2010 and 2011, Child Care Works will meet with legislators, early education and child care professionals, and consumers to build the support needed to pilot an improved and more comprehensive child care and early education system.