Childcare Entrepreneurship Jobs

 
Poverty Reduction Strategy no. 6

Create childcare entrepreneurship opportunities and provide jobs for people living in poverty. By expanding support systems for working families this strategy also enables more people to participate in the economy.

Create policies that support childcare entrepreneurship

Promote childcare entrepreneurship and workplace childcare policies to enlarge support systems for working families. If 25% of children under 6 living in poverty in Cleveland, Ohio were placed in daycare, there is potential to create 605 jobs for individuals currently living in poverty.

Action: Promote universal childcare policies and support childcare entrepreneurship. Include entrepreneurship training aimed at parents currently not in the labor force.

Additional Benefits: Increased participation in labor force for parents, increased wealth-building entreprenurial opportunities.

Stakeholders: Parents, workers, entrepreneurs, employers, city small business service departments, non-profit organizations.

Where it’s been done: In 2009, Washington DC passed a law to provide free preschool to 3- and 4-year-olds who live in the district. The law also provides resources and support to improve the quality of preschool programs and assist individuals in obtaining the appropriate credentials to serve as teachers and teaching assistants. A 2018 study from the Center for American Progress demonstrated an increase of 12 percentage points in the labor force participation of mothers with children under the age of five; 10 percentage points were directly attributed to the city's preschool expansion. Furthermore, the increase was driven by low- and high-income mothers, with the labor participation rate of low-income mothers increasing by 15 percentage points.

  • Best Practice #1

    Community Action Project

    Tulsa, OK: Community Action Project, Tulsa links quality Head Start services for kids with career support and training for parents so that they can build careers in nursing or other related health care fields, jobs that are likely to lead to higher earnings and stable jobs. Career Advance is a free intensive training program that offers life and career coaching, education, and financial incentives so that parents can obtain well-paying jobs with benefits. A quasi-experimental study, conducted primarily by Northwestern University and published in the Russel Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, comparing Career Advance participants with parents who only received Head Start services found that after one year, 61% of participants attained a career certificate compared to 3% of parents who only received Head Start services. The study also estimated that the benefit-cost ratio of the program within a five-year window to be 1.3. If the window is extended to a 10-year time frame the ratio is estimated to increase to 7.9.

  • Best Practice #2

    Child Care Linkage Program

    Santa Monica, CA: Santa Monica's Child Care Linkage Program, through a city ordinance, requires new developments to create child care centers or pay a fee to the city to help offset the increased demand for childcare that development generates. Funds are restricted to property acquisition, development, and construction of child care facilities, and do not include funds for operating expenses and general maintenance of facilities. However, the City does use General Fund monies to subsidize childcare for low-income families and childcare facilities are often exempt from costly planning fees. As of June 30, 2017, developers paid $2.6 million in fees.

  • Best Practice #3

    ChildCare Ventures

    Santa Cruz County, CA: In Santa Cruz County, the ChildCare Ventures collaborative worked with multiple stakeholders to encourage a more sustainable child care industry. The County offered grants and other services to help increase licensed childcare slots. Faith-based organizations and foundations help subsidize childcare services through in-kind donations, start-up funding, and funding for equipment and management assistance. The Santa Cruz Community Credit Union offered low-interest micro loans to qualifying childcare centers and family childcare homes. The County also raised funds to support child care through developer impact fees and helped reduce land use and permitting barriers for childcare facilities.

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