Facts In Action

In low-income communities, home-based child care, including unlicensed providers as well as licensed family child care providers, is often the most common form of care for children. The Enterprise Foundation has developed a new community development partnership model aimed at supporting low-income, home-based providers in order to improve the quality of care they provide.

The foundation sponsored projects in seven cities that brought together two non-traditional partners: community development corporations and child care resource and referral agencies. They worked together to provide two types of support: creating or enhancing child care provider networks, offering training, toy and book lending, peer support and financial training; and offering assistance in home repair or promoting homeownership

The perceived benefits of these partnerships were improved quality of child care for children, improved income for providers, and thus an improvement in quality of life in low-income communities.

The projects that focused on networks for providers showed that providing training for child care providers in appropriate early education results in better quality of care. It was also clear that the networks afforded providers support, self-esteem and a greater tendency to see their work in professional terms. The experiences of the different projects showed that cultural and linguistic accessibility were essential components. Inclusion of informal, unlicensed providers in the network was seen as very important; this is a large source of care in low-income communities and thus an important factor in increasing quality for low-income children.

The projects that focused on housing issues achieved much but encountered more obstacles. Providers who rent had difficulty accessing home repair programs to improve their child care spaces. Homeownership was difficult to attain because of providers' low incomes, reluctance to take on debt, and general lack of knowledge and understanding of the mortgage system. Child care regulations, lead paint regulations, and building codes also posed challenges in accessing better housing. The obstacles imply that the first step towards building a homeownership program is to institute financial literacy programs for providers, as well as help in establishing good credit, improving business practices, and increasing income.

The partnerships represent a significant advance in the area of connecting community development with child care resources — a connection which eventually leads to better quality care for low-income children.

Source: When Housing and Child Care Meet: Lessons Learned from Seven Child Care and Community Development Partnerships, D.A. Meyer, E. C. Smith, T. B. Porter, S.Cardenas. Enterprise Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation.

Facts in Action, September/October 2003