|
The Child Care Partnership Project Penn Quarter Partnership for Children and Families |
|
|
Description The pioneering spirit is alive and well in the nation's capitol. The Penn Quarter Partnership for Children and Families is a path-breaking collaboration among the federal government, local government, and a major corporation to create a high-quality child care center for low-and middle-income families. The child care center opened August 1, 2000, in Washington, D.C. The experience of the partners already provides valuable lessons on the process of partnership-building and strategic planning in a public-private partnership. The child care center is expected to provide care for 114 children ages birth to 4 from federally employed families and DC residents. Hours of operation will be determined based on market demand, which is projected to be for extended hours between 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The DC Childcare Corporation (DCCCC), the non-profit corporation established to oversee the center, will raise and administer scholarship funding for lower- and middle-income families. The center will also provide comprehensive family support services such as health care for the children, health and parenting education for adults, ESL classes, and other supportive activities. Partners The Federal Government:
The DC Government:
Businesses:
History and Development In 1997, Marriott International, Inc., a leader in family friendly work policies, approached the U.S. Government Services Agency (GSA) to explore ways to increase the availability of affordable child care for young children in the District of Columbia (DC). Marriott was seeking a new way to leverage resources of the public and private sector and increase child care options for its employees who are DC residents. Marriott looked to partner with the GSA to build on the agency's capacity to fund construction and renovation of space for federal government use. Marriott and GSA were able to devise a strategy to combine federal and local government funds with private foundation funds to establish a child care center that both federal employees and District families could use. This was the beginning of the Penn Quarter Partnership. Other federal agencies, such as the U.S. Departments of Justice and Treasury, joined the partnership to provide additional resources. These agencies became involved because they lack affordable, quality child care resources for low-income employees. In general, only higher-paid federal workers can afford to use the child care provided at federal agencies. Because federal agencies are prohibited from direct fundraising, the Penn Quarter Partnership provided these agencies with the flexibility to expand access to quality care for low-income employees by creating a non-profit organization that could raise private funds to make high-quality care more affordable. In 1998, the Partnership established the DC Childcare Corporation as a 501(c)(3) non-profit entity with board members from private companies, foundations, the Marriott Corporation, and federal government agencies. The non-profit DCCCC was created both as a fundraising tool and an administrative body for the child care center. The non-profit status of the DCCCC attracted local and national foundations interested in assisting low-income families in the District. DCCCC further increased foundation engagement by offering them seats on its Board of Directors. The Partnership selected the site for the center based on its close proximity to the federal partners. The area that was most suitable geographically was also a high-rent neighborhood and contained no existing government space suitable for a child care center. Therefore, the Partnership opted to lease existing space in need of renovation, which would be financed with funds from GSA and the District Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The DHCD offered a grant to help pay for construction and renovation costs, and the DC Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE) offered to supply some of the furniture for the center. OECE and the DHCD became involved to encourage redevelopment of existing space in the community and increase the availability of quality child care to District residents. Current Activities The DCCCC is responsible for establishing and overseeing the child care center. The center provides full-day care for infants, toddlers, and pre-K children 6 days a week. Employees of the federal partners receive preference for half of the child care spaces. GSA and the other participating federal agencies give preference to their lowest-income employees for slots in the center. Each agency maintains a set number of slots for which any of its employees may apply. The remaining half of the child care spaces are available for any family residing in the District, including low-income families qualifying for subsidies. The Office of Early Childhood provides child care subsidies for District families earning $25,000 or less annually. The Partnership has been actively fundraising so that all participating families earning up to $45,000 annually will pay a much lower child care rate than the market rate, and possibly also receive scholarship assistance based on income level. The level of financial assistance available will depend on the amount of funds raised. Marriott will not pay rent, nor will it maintain a set number of slots, but it is hoped that its employees living in the District will benefit from the increased access to affordable quality care that the center will provide. Marriott's role in the partnership is to raise funds for tuition scholarships and general expenses and act as a driving force to keep the initiative going in the face of bureaucratic hurdles and other challenges. As a large international corporation, Marriott helps to generate attention and financial support for the center. Resources Funding for the renovation, operation, and tuition assistance for the child care center comes from both public and private sources. The DC Department of Housing and Community Development issued a $900,000 one-time grant for the renovation of the building. The DC Office of Early Childhood Education (OECE) has offered $50,000 for furnishings. It will also provide child care subsidies for qualifying DC families using the center. It is not yet known how many families this will include, but there are over 50 slots in the center for children of non-federal employees. GSA contributed $600,000 for building renovations, $67,000 for furnishing and security equipment, and $121,000 a year for rent. In deference to the partnership, GSA is also forgoing $100,000 in fees that it usually charges to other agencies and organizations that use space supported with GSA funds. Over the course of the 10-year lease of the center, GSA expects its total cost to reach $2 million. The federal Departments of Justice and Treasury and the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation are contributing funds for rent and tuition assistance to their employees. Marriott and the DCCCC have taken the lead in attracting private foundation funding. The contributing foundations are those with an interest in child care issues and those seeking to increase the availability of high-quality care to the District's low-income residents. One-time grants from the private sector include $250,000 from the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation; $250,000 from the Host Marriott Corporation; $100,000 from the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation for scholarships and start-up, transportation, and program costs; $30,000 from the Philip L. Graham Fund for scholarships and start-up and transportation costs; and $1,500 from PEPCO for tuition scholarships. Kaiser Permanente, a major Health Maintenance Organization in the Washington, D.C. area, is offering affordable health insurance for uninsured children, health and parenting education for staff and parents, and CPR training. Results Although the Penn Quarter Partnership is not currently operating as a center, the prognosis for high-quality care at affordable prices is promising. Substantial start-up and tuition assistance funding is already available, and the RFP for the center's operator requires national accreditation within the first two years of operation. The partners are enthusiastic about the project, and the federal agencies have already received numerous applications for their slots in the center. Sustaining and Replicating The project will be sustained through annual rent from the federal partners, public subsidies to qualifying families, and fundraising efforts of the DCCCC. The lease for the child care space is for 10 years. Marriott initiated the Partnership after learning several lessons from a public-private collaboration on a child care center in Atlanta, Georgia (see the profile on Atlanta's Inn for Children). This effort was costly and time-consuming because the partnering hotel chains in Atlanta sought to purchase land and construct a new facility. The Atlanta partnership ran into many difficulties and delays in securing financing for this effort. In addition, the Atlanta child care center opened as a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week facility for which each of the partnering hotels guaranteed a set number of slots for their employees. Demand for such extended hours was lower than expected, as was participation by the hotels' employees. Based on these lessons, Marriott sought a new approach for the DC initiative by partnering with the GSA to secure construction and renovation resources upfront. Marriott also learned not to assume that its employees would take full advantage of the child care center, so purchasing slots for its low-wage employees was not a strategy that the corporation pursued in DC. Finally, the Partnership decided to open the new center with extended hours, but not 24 hours, 7 days a week. The center will wait to see what the market demands and will adjust its hours accordingly. Marriott's continued support of the Partnership and its drive to initiate other partnerships will depend on the success of both the Atlanta and DC projects. Marriott recognizes the enormous expense that these arrangements incur, and considers the child care shortage for low-income families to be a problem too big for one corporation or for the private sector to solve alone. The corporation is pursuing strategies to influence public policy to build public and private support for such efforts, and will re-evaluate its strategies based on the results of its activities. Lessons Learned Leave plenty of time for early planning. When multiple federal and state agencies are involved, government regulations and procedures can slow down progress. Private-sector partners must recognize that it often takes longer to move through public-sector procedures than private sector ones. For example, the DC Department of Housing and Community Development made a verbal agreement early on in the initiative to fund 50 percent of the renovation/construction costs, but the process for securing the agreement took 6 months. When the new city administration took charge in 1998, a second round of reviews and approvals was required to guarantee the fulfillment of the agency's commitment. A lengthy accounting process also slowed the flow of money during the construction and renovation, which caused delays in the project. Be patient and persistent. Every delay and obstacle should be met with an indomitable will to succeed and proceed on the part of all involved. Securing a provider to manage the operation of the center has proved a challenge. Some prospective providers have been hesitant to apply, due to uncertainty over the financial resources of the DC Office of Early Childhood Development. OECD is responsible for making subsidy payments for District families that earn less than $25,000, but the agency has consistently struggled with tight budgets. Providers have indicated that they lack confidence in OECD's ability to maintain subsidy payments to the center. However, the Partnership has not allowed this issue to impede the project, and it has pushed forward to secure a manager for the contract. Leverage partner strengths to sustain momentum. All of the partnering federal agencies have maintained their commitment to the center throughout all the delays, but GSA and Marriott have been the driving factors for the Partnership. GSA has the resources and clout to sustain the project, and Marriott is able to leverage its status as a major local employer to help attract funds, apply pressure when needed, and give the initiative legitimacy as a work/family solution. Plan creative solutions to regulatory and legal barriers. For example, The Trible Amendment (U.S.C. 490 b {'85, '87, '92}) authorizes federal agencies (in this case, GSA) to provide free federally owned or leased space to other federal agencies to provide child care to their employees. The GSA did not originally own or lease the property for the center, so the challenge was to find a way to construct the lease arrangement in order to allow the other federal agencies to share the space. In the final arrangement, the center site is privately owned and leased to the District of Columbia. The DCCCC subleases the site from the DC government, and GSA subleases the site from the DCCCC. The arrangement is complicated and required careful review to ensure compliance with laws and regulations. Contact Information Bonnie Storm Terri Snowden |
||
|
||
