What Public-Private Partnerships are Doing

Increasing the supply of high quality care;

Providing technical assistance to employers on work-life issues;

Raising revenue; and

Building and improving state and community child care systems.

While each partnership is unique, many are employing similar approaches to meet these goals. The following approaches are being used by innovative partnerships:

Increasing the quality of child care

Many partnerships have focused on improving child care by encouraging and rewarding provider training and improving the facilities where children spend time. Public-private partnerships are improving the quality of care by:

Recruiting, training and licensing both center and home-based providers;

Developing early childhood education professional development systems and career ladders;

Increasing provider compensation based on qualifications;

Promoting program accreditation and helping providers get accredited;

Establishing peer mentoring programs for child care providers;

Creating school-age programs designed specifically for school-aged children;

Constructing and renovating child care facilities; and

Educating parents and families to be careful consumers.

Partnering among school districts, youth, child development and community organizations, parks and recreation departments and employers to create or expand school-age child care;

Establishing loan funds to expand or upgrade facilities;

Recruiting providers for non-traditional hours and emergency care;

Regularly surveying and reporting on the quality of a state or community's child care services; and

Working with housing authorities, economic development organizations, zoning commissions, employers and developers to include child care facilities in construction projects.

Linking businesses with child care resource and referral organizations that can offer both expertise and data to help employers create appropriate child care options for their employees;

Conducting surveys on employee child care needs;

Developing resources and "toolkits" for employers seeking to create or enhance family-supportive work/life policies and programs such as child care; and

Conducting public awareness campaigns that recognize and reward employers and employees who support child care in their workplaces and/or communities.

Tax credits, user fees and other incentives that generate revenues that are dedicated to a specific purpose such as child care;

Legislative mandates that create certain funding streams for child care or a broader package of children’s services; and

Traditional fundraising techniques that create sources of revenues that can be used to improve the quality, access, or affordability of child care.

Linking the creation, expansion and improvement of child care quality with state or community economic development initiatives;

Establishing or participating in community coalitions commissions or task forces that address child care;

Coordinating financial resources that support child care;

Coordinating other community services, such as health, family literacy, family support services with child care;

Organizing business commissions, roundtables and blue ribbon committees to assist in creating state and community strategies for increasing and improving child care;

Brokering business technical assistance to child care providers and child care partnerships in areas such as personnel management, public relations, financing or strategic planning;

Providing funding or in-kind support to early childhood system development efforts, such as establishing child care, expansion, improvement, facility or subsidy funds and securing donated goods or pro-bono financial, legal or media services; and

Lobbying to secure more public support for increasing and improving child care.