Milwaukee 4-C-Early Childhood Education & Care Initiative

Description

The Milwaukee 4-C-Early Childhood Education & Care Initiative (ECEC) aims to build quality child care capacity, while giving careful attention to the needs of single parents transitioning from welfare to work. Through a public-private partnership, seven established providers of early care and education act as the hub for a network of smaller child care providers and other community service providers. Emphasis is placed on the provision of full-day care through collaboration between the early childhood education and child care community; coordination of care for sibling groups; advocacy addressing the needs of working parents; care during nonstandard hours; and sick child care.

Partners

Primary partners include:

• Milwaukee 4-C- Community Coordinated Child Care, Inc;
• The Milwaukee Public Schools;
• The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, The Milwaukee Foundation, The Helen Bader Foundation, The Faye McBeath Foundation, The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, The Foundation of Faith, The BRICO Foundation, The Patrick and Anna M. Cudahy Fund, and the Junior League of Milwaukee;
• The Community Based Organizations Network of Milwaukee County;
• The State of Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Office of Child Care; and
• Local child care, early education, and service providers.

History and Development

In 1996, a task force of public officials, community providers, and parents convened to address the child care needs of Milwaukee families in the context of welfare reform. They recognized that the existing early education and care capacity was not sufficient to meet projected child care demands, and that existing service delivery models were not responsive to the needs of single working parents. For example, half-day early education and kindergarten programs resulted in young children spending significant time, and the taxpayers spending significant dollars, on transportation from early education sites to child care settings.

With support from the Mott Foundation, the task force met throughout 1996 and designed the Early Childhood Education and Care Initiative. Members acknowledged that a lack of political will for significant new capital outlays meant that the government was unlikely to financially support increasing capacity through such expansions. Thus, to make more efficient use of existing resources, the hub-satellite model was created.

The neighborhood-based "hub-satellite" model relies on established child care providers to provide the technical assistance necessary to build an early education and care network that responds to local community needs. Technical assistance activities focus on decreasing failure rates among new child care businesses, increasing the quality of available care through professional development, recruiting and training new providers, and providing linkages between child care and other health and family support services.

A challenge grant from the Mott Foundation leveraged both public and private support for this initiative. In 1997, seven providers were selected to act as hub agencies within their communities. In collaboration with service providers and parents, each hub agency designed a unique plan to create a responsive system of early education and care in its community.

Community Coordinated Child Care (4-C), the state-mandated and -funded resource and referral agency, was designated the fiduciary agent and coordinator of the initiative. The hubs were funded from May 1997 through May 1999, with the expectation that the networks would be institutionalized during this timeframe.

Current Activities

With technical assistance from 4-C, each of the seven hub agencies has expanded its own capacity and coordinated with other providers in its neighborhood to address child care needs. Although the funding for the project ended in May 1999, many innovative hub-satellite services continue to operate. For example:

• The Silver Spring Neighborhood Center focused on increasing family child care capacity. The Neighborhood Center designated staff to recruit, train, and support family care providers. They established a network of home providers who meet and share information. In addition, the Center established a partnership with the Milwaukee University School of Nursing to train family child care providers to care for sick children, which led to efforts to make the state’s sick care licensing requirements more provider-friendly.
• The Next Door Foundation focused on coordinating part-day programs. They initiated a program in which local child care staff walk children from the local half-day, school-based early childhood program to the local child care center. This simple strategy enables parents who had bused children out of the neighborhood to use their own neighborhood resources.
• In yet another neighborhood, the YMCA agency coordinated the development of a child care center in a local elementary school. The center serves 12 infants and 40 preschool children, allowing the school’s faculty/staff and parents from the community to access care for children of diverse ages in one place.
• La Causa, on the south side of Milwaukee, recruited and trained local residents to become child care teachers and used the new staff to expand services to nontraditional hours. Because manufacturing is an important industry in Milwaukee, there has long been a recognized need for care during nontraditional hours. Prior attempts to provide nontraditional care, however, failed because of lack of demand for center-based options. By involving the neighborhood, La Causa was able to implement a successful second shift child care program and fill 76 spaces. They attribute the success to the trust created through community involvement and attention to making the program viable for parents. For example, outside lighting was added to address safety concerns and staff were made available to assist parents in carrying sleeping children and supplies at pick-up time.

Resources

Resources for ECEC came from:

• The State of Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Office of Child Care ($300,000);
• The Milwaukee Public Schools ($100,000);
• Mott Foundation grants for planning ($50,000 ) and operations ($250,000); and
• Smaller grants from a consortium of local organizations and funders convened by the Milwaukee Foundation.

Results

The ECEC initiative achieved its goal of increasing capacity while also improving systems and infrastructure. Specifically:

• The seven hub-satellite networks increased the city’s overall child care capacity by 1,845 spaces;
• Advocacy efforts contributed to a successful campaign to lower the parent co-pay amounts for child care and raise the eligibility for subsidy from 165% of poverty to 185% of poverty;
• Improved collaborative relationships were established between public schools and the child care community; and
• The project enhanced local foundations’ collaboration on comprehensive initiatives aimed at system change.

Sustaining and Replicating

In 1999, a local foundation funded 4-C to continue to bring the hub agencies together and provide technical assistance focused on sustainability and growth. Project coordinators believe that they will successfully sustain and expand the hubs because:

• Involvement in the ECEC initiative has helped to establish the credibility of hub agencies, which will be helpful in securing additional funding;
• The concept of "one-stop-shopping" in human services is gaining popularity and hub-satellite networks are well positioned to leverage funding for this type of service;
• Hub networks that have established relationships with the school system and successfully implemented preschool and infant child care within schools may find additional support through available education funds; and
• Improved management of small providers will allow market revenues to more fully cover costs of operation and thereby sustain capacity.

Lessons Learned

Innovation requires flexibility. 4-C, as the fiduciary agent, frequently made adjustments in funding and timelines to respond to hub needs. This enabled the hubs and their networks to respond to community needs, making programming adjustments as needed. For example, hubs found that the quarterly payment schedule did not allow them to make initial capital improvements. 4-C adjusted the payment schedule where it was helpful.

Comprehensive planning is key. Bringing the stakeholders together over an extended time period to engage in detailed planning was instrumental to the success of the project. This resulted in a thoughtful final plan, as well as effective relationships among partners.

Pay attention to the customer. The hub-satellite model allowed stakeholders at the neighborhood level to design service delivery systems. The result was services designed with careful consideration of the needs of parents in the community. Innovations such as arranging for staff to walk children to and from early education and child care sites are not expensive to implement; however, they can have considerable impact on the lives of families.

Contact Information

Carol Maurer
Executive Director
4-C – Community Coordinated Child Care
116 E. Pleasant St., Lower Level
Milwaukee, WI 53212-3938
Phone: (414) 562-2650
Fax: (414) 562-2651