Child Care and Early Education

Quality pre-school for low-income families: A story 25 years in the making.

Posted on by Ryan Patrick Smith

In their September issue, Real Simple magazine highlights the story of Barbara Mason’s 25 year journey helping thousands of children living in poverty and the one board member, Dagobert Soergel, who has been with her from the start.

In fact, Soergel, a University of Maryland professor, not only has been a board member from day one, he also wrote the newspaper ad that Mason answered nearly 25 years ago that offered a chance to make a difference in the life of a child.

The piece features a conversation between Mason and Soergel that illuminates the pivotal role Soergel played behind the scenes in helping The Child and Family Network Centers (CFNC), a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation, develop into a nationally accredited organization that now provides nearly 200 children from low-income families with free preschool every year.

At one point during the interview, Soergel reveals a secret: “In CFNC’s second year, there was a workshop through High/Scope, an educational research foundation renowned for its preschool approach. I knew Barbara wanted to go, but CFNC didn’t have the money. I found an organization to pay for half. And Barbara doesn’t know this, but I contributed the other half.”

The article appears on page 90 of the September issue of Real Simple, which just hit newsstands.  Or you can see it online here.

Ryan Patrick Smith is manager of grants and major gifts at The Child and Family Network Centers, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.

Early Care and Education Collaborative makes its debut in the Washington Business Journal!

Posted on by HyeSook Chung

I was thrilled to open the Washington Business Journal last week to see the work that we’re doing to form a collaborative around the issue of child care and early education in our region highlighted!  (To view the article online, click here.  Or, for a PDF, click here.)

Seeing the article inspired me to offer a bit more detail about our work on the collaborative and the issues around child care and early education that are impacting the region, and particularly low-income families throughout the region–many of them headed by single mothers.

Research shows that young children (ages 0 to 5) need a strong social, emotional and intellectual foundation to succeed in school. Parents and caregivers have the responsibility to ensure young children get off to a strong start and establish healthy patterns for life-long learning. Young children who enter kindergarten without this foundation for learning are more likely to face significant academic challenges than peers who come prepared.

Quality early care and education can successfully close this “preparation gap,” while facilitating the economic security and long-term financial success of low-income families by supporting parents in the workforce, and by preparing the workforce of the future to meet the needs of the regional business community.

The Women’s Foundation established the Early Care and Education Collaborative (ECEC) to meet these pressing social and economic needs by focusing on improved access to quality early care and education for low-income families in the Washington metropolitan area. A multi-year, multi-million dollar collective funding effort, the ECEC is supported and directed by corporate funders and local and national foundations. Members of the ECEC believe that strategic collaborative efforts can create meaningful change in the early care and education field by improving the quality of services and influencing public decisions.

The ECEC’s mission is threefold: To increase the capacity and institutional stability of the early care and education programs in the region, enable these entities to develop and manage their resources more effectively, and to improve early care and education programs through grantmaking, training and technical assistance.

In keeping with this mission, ECEC’s goals are to:

1.  Encourage and strengthen partnership(s) among early care and education practitioners and key stakeholders.
2.  Support changes in the early care and education programs that will improve learning and ensure the overall quality of care among the very young (ages 0 to 5).
3.  Promote early care and education programs working towards long-term sustainable systemic reforms.
4.  Strengthen the capacity of early care and education professionals by investing in training and technical assistance for Grantee Partners.
5.  Invest in evaluation to ensure the investments and programs have the desired impact.

The ECEC will do so by funding programs or capacity building efforts to enhance the overall scope and effectiveness of the quality of services, which could include professional development, assessment, quality assurance and accreditation and public education and advocacy efforts affecting the early care and education field.

Grant recipients will be limited to organizations working in the District of Columbia, Arlington County, City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County. They will be chosen based on a demonstrated ability to support long-term sustainable early care and education efforts.

For more information, feel free to contact me at hchung@wawf.org.

Hye Sook Chung is The Woman’s Foundation’s consultant on the Early Child Care and Education Collaborative.

Building self-confidence by wearing a crown: A reflection on becoming Mrs. Maryland.

Posted on by Siobhan Davenport

I didn’t do it because I had the perfect body.

I did it because I didn’t.

I was just recovering from the birth of my second child, and needed to shake a bit of baby fat, in fact.

And, after 10 years of caring for my mom, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and becoming a mom myself, I needed to turn my attention back to taking care of myself a bit.

So when my girlfriend told me that she was entering the Mrs. Maryland pageant, instead of putting it off in hopes for a better time, or a better body, I decided to enter with her.

Life was short, I had realized as I cared for my ailing mother. Entering a pageant was on the bucket list I’d created for myself when she became ill.

In December 2007, when I officially decided to enter and prepare for the pageant, I had crossed off a few things on the list. I had run a marathon and earned a master’s degree.

Both were challenging. But neither involved a swimsuit competition.

I knew that this experience would push me further beyond my comfort zone than I ever had been.

So, I didn’t do it because I had the perfect body, or because I was dying to parade around on stage in a swimsuit.

I did it because I didn’t, and I wasn’t.

And because I wanted my daughter to see that when there are challenges, when you have to go outside your comfort zone, when you aren’t sure, that you can still take on anything you want, and succeed.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved watching the Miss America pageants on television, but it had never occurred to me that I could be in one.

Much less win one.

But on June 25, 2008, I did.

And while the crown is nice, I have been more struck by the process itself. Of learning about and testing my limits as I got back into shape and prepared for the various aspects of the pageant, including the interview.

It was through the interviews—which counted as half of our score—that I learned the amazing stories of my fellow contestants. About their careers as engineers, their PhDs, about their extensive community service.

About my fellow contestant who immigrated to this country 15 years ago, and has worked for seven days a week at her own business since then to create a future for her children. This year, her daughter graduated from the University of Maryland.

And every woman I met through the pageant had an inspiring story like this, of how she is impacting her family, her community and her own individual self-confidence.

And that is where the true beauty in the Mrs. Maryland pageant lies for me.

Because each of us was uncomfortable with the swimsuit competition and with being on stage, but we did it anyway.  Because of our sense of what we had to offer, as women, beyond what we looked like, beyond what everyone might see on the outside every day.

And yes, I enjoy wearing the crown. It has great meaning and significance for me.

But what I most treasure about it is the opportunity I have while I have the honor of wearing it to serve as a role model for other girls and women.

And what I hope I am able to convey to each of them is a concept I heard in a Tiger Woods commercial, where his father says to him, "I promise you that you’ll never meet another person as mentally tough as you in your entire life.”

Because I believe that the strongest gift we can give to each other as women, and pass along to our daughters, is the idea that the greatest goal is mental strength, and that each of us possesses it. That if you can dream it, you can make it happen.

At 37, I never thought it possible that I would be wearing a crown that I didn’t buy for myself.

And having the honor of wearing this one reminds me every day that its beauty has far more to do with the pretty face it frames, and actually represents the whole of the mind, spirit and strength that it surrounds.

Siobhan Davenport is a member of The Women’s Foundation’s board of directors and is the reigning 2008 Mrs. Maryland. She will compete in the national Mrs. America pageant in September. Siobhan’s platform and philanthropic interests include support for Alzheimer’s treatment and research, and increasing awareness of and support for early child care and education. She is an investor in The Women’s Foundation’s Early Child Care and Education Collaborative.

Stepping Stones Research Update: May 2008

Posted on by Liza Getsinger

As part of our ongoing commitment–in partnership with The Urban Institute–to providing information and resources related to the goals of Stepping Stones, please find below summary of recent research on issues of economic security and financial independence for women and their families.

This research is summarized and compiled for The Women’s Foundation by Liza Getsinger of The Urban Institute, NeighborhoodInfo DC.

Financial Education and Wealth Creation News

The Cost of Maintaining Ownership in the Current Crisis: Comparisons in Twenty Cities
By Dean Baker, Danilo Pelletiere and Hye Jin Rho
Center for Economic and Policy Research
April 2008

The collapse of the bubble in the U.S. housing market is creating chaos in financial markets, while throwing the economy into a recession. It is also threatening millions of homeowners and renters with the loss of their homes. This paper compares ownership and rental costs in twenty major metropolitan areas.

Key Findings:

  • In many markets, homeownership costs are in line with rental costs. In these areas, it is practical and desirable to focus on policies that keep homeowners in their homes.
  • Prices are now falling rapidly in many of these markets; homeowners are unlikely to accumulate equity. In fact, it is likely that many homeowners will end up selling their homes for less than their outstanding mortgage, even if new mortgages are issued with substantial write-downs from the original mortgage.
  • In bubble-inflated markets, homeownership is not only a costly and risky proposition, but continuing price declines mean that homeowners will not accrue any equity.
  • A policy of ensuring suitable rental options is likely to be more helpful to many current homeowners. This policy can encourage the rapid conversion of vacant and abandoned units to rental properties, as well as policies that facilitate the conversion of ownership units to rental units for the same households.
  • Many of the properties facing foreclosure are already rental properties. In these cases, foreclosures often result in the displacement of the current tenants. Congress should recognize this problem and consider policies that provide greater security to tenants in such situations.

Abstract, introduction and key findings
Full text

Jobs and Business Ownership News

Hometown Prosperity: Increasing Opportunity for DC’s Low-Income Working Families
DC Appleseed and DC Fiscal Policy Institute
January 2008 (Released April 14, 2008)

This report describes working poor families with children in the District and the barriers they face to economic advancement, and lays out essential policy changes that could improve their situation.

Key findings and Policy Recommendations:

  • Nearly one in three working families in the District was poor in 2005.
  • In fact, a higher proportion of working families in the District is poor compared to the proportion of working families in neighboring states or in the nation as a whole.
  • Enhance access to community college educational offerings for its residents by encouraging and developing regional partnerships and/or investing in the creation of a local community college as a branch of or separate from the University of DC.
  • Make a priority of raising wages in women-dominated sectors and moving women into non-traditional careers.
  • Set wage and benefit standards for all economic development programs.
  • Implement paid sick leave for all District workers and consider developing a paid disability/family leave program.
  • Continue to address the affordable housing crisis in the city, and promote housing for low-income families that takes into account access to transportation, jobs, and educational resources.

Abstract, introduction and key findings
Full text

Human Capital and Women’s Business Ownership
By Darrene Hackler, Ellen Harpel, and Heike Mayer
Small Business Administration- Office of Advocacy
April 2008

This article begins to shed light on the relationship between different elements of human capital and self-employment among women.

Key Findings:

  • The study finds that self-employed women have more education and increased their educational attainment at a faster rate compared to other working women.
  • The percentage of self-employed women in managerial occupations consistently exceeded the rate for other working women, and self-employed women participated in different industries than other working women.
  • More self-employed men hold an advanced degree compared to self-employed women over the study period, but the gap narrowed considerably by 2006.
  • Self-employed minorities were slightly more likely than self-employed whites to have a college degree throughout much of the study period.
  • Earnings data show that the self-employed were most likely to be either in the first (lowest) or fourth (highest) quartile.
  • A lower percentage of self-employed women hold managerial occupations than do self-employed men, and there are lower rates of self-employment in industries where there is less overall female participation (such as communications, transportation, wholesale trade, manufacturing, and construction).

Abstract, introduction and key findings
Full text

Child Care and Early Education News

Planning for Quality Schools: Meeting the Needs of District Families
By David F. Garrison, Marni D. Allen, Margery Austin Turner, Jennifer Comey, Barika X. Williams, Elizabeth Guernsey, Mary Filardo, Nancy Huvendick, and Ping Sung
Brookings Institution, The Urban Institute, and 21st Century School Fund
April 24, 2008

This report is the first phase of a three-part project to help the District of Columbia create a firm analytical basis for planning for quality schools to meet the needs of the city’s families.

Key Findings:

  • The District’s population has increased since 2000; the total number of school-age children has declined slightly. Conditions in both the housing market and the public school system contribute to this trend.
  • The District’s population is becoming increasingly diverse, with rising numbers of whites and Hispanics and a declining share of blacks. Still, the District remains highly segregated along both racial and income lines. The populations of Wards 7 and 8 are over 90 percent black, while nearly all of the city’s white residents live in Wards 2 and 3. And in 2006, median household income for the city’s white residents was $92,000, almost three times as high as the $34,000 median household income of the city’s blacks.
  • Almost half of all white public school students live in Ward 3, and almost none live East of the River. In contrast, more than half of all black public school students live East of the River, while Hispanic students are heavily concentrated in Wards 1 and 4.
  • There are 234 public schools and distinct public school programs in the District serving pre-school students through adults without high school diplomas, a significant expansion of supply since 1997.
  • In 2006-07, 72, 378 students were enrolled in DCPS and public charter schools, close to the same number as the previous year, but substantially lower than a decade earlier. Since 1997-98, the number of students attending DCPS schools has dropped by almost one-third, while public charter enrollment has grown by over 400 percent.
  • In 2006-07, there were 10,857 public special education students in the District, just over 15 percent of all public school students. This is on the high end compared to other high-poverty urban school districts. Special education students, like the general student population, are concentrated East of the River, and a disproportionate share of black public school students are classified as special education students (compared to white and Hispanic public school students).

Abstract, introduction and key findings
Full text

The Impact of the Mortgage Crisis on Children and Their Education
By Julia B. Isaacs and Phillip Lovell
Brookings Institution
April 2008

By examining past research, this article examines the potential impacts of these foreclosures on children are their education, behavior and health.

Key Findings:

  • Research shows that children who experience excessive mobility, such as those impacted by the mortgage crisis, will suffer in school.
  • The National Assessment of Educational Progress (known as the Nation’s Report Card) has found that students with two or more school changes in the previous year are half as likely to be proficient in reading as their stable peers.
  • One study found that frequent movers were 77 percent more likely than children who have not moved to have four or more behavior problems.
  • One study found that working families spending more than half of their income on housing have less money available than other families to spend on such crucial items as health care and health insurance
  • The mortgage crisis is more than a blow to our economy. It is crippling our children, their education, and as a result, the nation’s future. And while our government is working to alleviate the financial damage caused by this calamity, the impact on the nation’s children is going unnoticed. As economists focus on solving the problem, policy-makers must make an effort to mitigate the damage of this disaster on our young people.

Abstract, introduction and key findings
Full text 

Health and Safety News

Medicaid, SCHIP and Economic Downturn: Policy Challenges and Policy Responses
Kaiser Family Foundation
April, 28 2008

Examines the implications of a downturn for health coverage and state programs and projects the impact of one percentage point rise in the national unemployment rate on Medicaid and SCHIP and the number of uninsured individuals.

Key Findings:

  • Economic Downturns Increase Medicaid Enrollment and Spending – This analysis shows that a 1 percentage point rise in the national unemployment rate would increase Medicaid and SCHIP enrollment by 1 million (600,000 children and 400,000 non-elderly adults) and cause the number of uninsured to grow by 1.1 million.
  • Economic Downturns Reduce State Revenues – Medicaid and SCHIP are also affected by state revenue declines. Recent Urban Institute research shows that a 1 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate causes state General Fund revenue to drop by 3 to 4 percent below expected levels. 
  • State Policy Responses Can Worsen Cyclical Downturns – Unlike the federal government, almost all states are legally required to balance their budgets. To meet this requirement in times of economic stress, states may take such steps as tapping reserves, borrowing from trust funds, securitizing future revenue streams, delaying spending from one fiscal year to the next, etc.
  • Congress May Consider Options to Better Target Federal Relief – As states enter a new economic downturn, policymakers could consider three basic options for fiscal relief. One approach would, like JGTRRA, provide a uniform increase in Medicaid matching rates to all states, for a specified time. 
  • Federal Fiscal Relief Can Prevent Medicaid Cuts During Economic Downturns – As a new economic downturn unfolds, many states appear headed for serious budget shortfalls. The federal government does not have balanced budget requirements, so it has the flexibility to target supplemental funds to states during an economic downturn, preventing harmful and ill-timed cuts in health coverage.

Abstract, introduction and key findings
Full text

Other News and Research

Women in the Wake of the Storm: Examining the Post-Katrina Realities of the Women of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast
By Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
April 2008

This report tells the stories of women post-Katrina and, in so doing, provides an analysis of women’s increased vulnerability during times of disaster, and discusses how the experiences of women affected by Katrina align with the experiences of women around the world who have experienced other large-scale crises. It also provides a race/class/gendered analysis of women’s post-Katrina experiences, with a special emphasis on what they are doing now to rebuild their lives, reconstruct their homes, restore their families, and reclaim their communities.  It tells the story of Katrina from the eyes of the women who lived through it.

Key findings:

  • Most of those with whom the author spoke with seemed relieved that other people wanted to know what they had been through, how they had survived, and what they were doing now to keep on keeping on. Nearly every woman bemoaned the fact that their voices had not been heard and as a result, their stories have been left untold.
  • In conversations with women in and around New Orleans, three primary issues remained at the forefront of their concerns: housing, healthcare, and economic well-being. Each of these issues had multiple and often interlocking reverberations on their lives. All of those with whom we spoke expressed a deep commitment to their communities and desire to face any remaining challenges; however, our contacts’ health, sense of security, and for some even that small but persistent kernel of sustaining hope all have been jeopardized by the slow pace of recovery and the prolonged lack of normalcy.

Policy Recommendations:

  • Make affordable housing a top priority. The safety of women and girls remain in jeopardy with each day that severe housing shortages go unaddressed.
  • Incorporate women in the rebuilding economy through non-traditional training and enforcement of anti-discrimination laws. Women by and large have been shut out of the most lucrative aspects of the rebuilding economy and have suffered as a result.
  • Increase the availability and quality of child care and schools. As the population of the region continues to expand, so does the need for child care and educational institutions.
  • Address both physical and mental health care needs, especially among the most needy. Health care post-Katrina, for many, has become yet another disaster.

Full text

Early childhood education finds advocates in unusual places.

Posted on by Vera Steiner Blore

Access to quality early childhood education is finding articulate advocates in unusual places, including voices from the Federal Reserve Bank. The economic argument for investing in quality early childhood education has been soundly made by Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis researcher Art Rolnick in the working paper, A Proposal for Achieving High Returns on Early Childhood Development.

In addition, on September 24, 2007, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, Ben Bernanke, talked about the importance of investing in early childhood education in his remarks on education and economic competitiveness in a speech to business leaders at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. He noted that, “ the payoff from high-quality pre-school and home visitation programs is likely very high, especially for children born into poor or otherwise disadvantaged families.”

On March 5, 2008, Jeffrey M. Lacker, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, spoke to Fairfax Futures’ business and foundation partners about the importance of investing in early childhood education.  Lacker noted, “Human capital is critically important to economic growth at the state or metropolitan level. Therefore, the more skilled the workforce, the more rapidly the economy grows.” Lacker went on to say, “The close relationship between skills and growth, combined with compelling evidence that early childhood education leads to better educated, more highly-skilled adults, is what makes the case for early childhood education so strong for me.”

Washington Area Women’s Foundation President Phyllis Caldwell participated in the event.  The Women’s Foundation is a strong supporter of Fairfax Futures’ efforts to engage the business community as advocates on this issue.

Vera Steiner Blore is executive director of Fairfax Futures, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.

Why child care is good business.

Posted on by HyeSook Chung

Quality child care is critical in the development of local economic development. Investments in quality child care programs that support parents, promote the health and safety of children and improve access to high-quality child care help everyone, including businesses.

Looking at child care and early education from the economic development lens – here are some facts:
    • For every $1.00 invested in quality child care and early education programs, there is a long-term benefit of $7.00 in public savings by increasing the likelihood that children will stay in school and become employed, and by reducing dependence on public assistance (High Scope Perry Preschool project in Ypsilanti, Michigan).
    • Every state dollar invested in child care and early education programs leverages $3.00 in federal funds, and each new federal dollar generates almost $2.00 in economic activity (Investing in the Child Care Industry: An Economic Development Strategy for Kansas, Mid-America Regional Council).
    • The internal rate of return (the interest rate received for an investment consistent of payments and revenue that occur at regular periods) from child care and early educations programs exceeds the amount invested in them. (Early Childhood Development: Economic Development with a High Public Return, Rolnick and Grunewald, The Minnesota Fed Bank).

The Early Care and Education Collaborative is a project of The Women’s Foundation and a partnership of private and corporate philanthropies. This partnership offers a unique opportunity for donors and nonprofit organizations to make a critical difference in the lives of women and their young children.

The Early Care and Education Collaborative will work to improve the access to quality, affordable early care and education for low-income, women-headed families in the Washington metropolitan area. It invests in local organizations–Grantee Partners–to improve early care and education through grantmaking and training and technical assistance.

PNC Bank, an ECE Collaborative partner, has made a commitment to child care and early education and is recognizing the importance of subsidized child care as a work support.  In a Washington Business Journal editorial, "Subsidized child care is good business", Mike Harreld, Regional President of PNC Bank, Greater Washington, D.C. area, says, “When low-income working parents are forced to leave the work force, not only do they and their children suffer an immediate loss of pride, income and quality early learning experiences — our companies and communities lose as well.”

In the winter of 2002, 89 percent of the 9.8 million preschools of employed mothers and 31 percent of the 8.2 million preschoolers of non-employed mothers were in at least one child care arrangement on a regular basis (Household Economic Studies, US Census Bureau). 

Child care has become the “norm” for young children. Interest in the use of child care has grown as more and more low-income women are entering the labor force. Child care options and costs associated in selecting “quality” child care are important issues for all working women, as well as relatives, child care providers, policy makers, and anyone concerned about young children!

Access to quality child care for low-income women is not only necessary for economic sufficiency, but also for long-time sustainable economic success. The Women’s Foundation focuses attention on the necessity of low-income women’s access to quality early child care and education. This access is essential for the easy transition for women for the work force, ensuring children are ready for school, and helping to establish the viability of the regional business community.

In his article, Harreld states, “As employers, we count on reliable employees who are fully focused and ready to work. This can only happen when employees know their children are safe and in good care during the workday.”

Additional resources about the economic impact of child care in Washington, D.C. region:

The Insight Center worked with the CityBridge Foundation and the Center for Applied Research and Urban Policy at the University of the District of Columbia to analyze the economics of the District’s ECE system and make recommendations for strengthening the industry. At the release of the report on June 18, 2007, Mayor Adrian Fenty, City Council Chairman Vincent Gray, and D.C. Chamber of Commerce President Barbara Lang spoke of the economic importance of ECE and committed to working to make it stronger.

Executive Summary

Full report

America’s Edge is a national non-profit organization established in 2007 to help engage leaders of the business community more extensively in support of local, state, and national efforts to improve the quality of public education. In a global economy, the ability of American businesses to compete depends on the talent, knowledge, and skills of employees at every level; and the demands are rapidly changing. The availability of competent employees depends substantially on the quality of public education in the communities where they work. To develop those talents and to produce the knowledge and skills required in the 21st Century, that education needs to be of high quality and must begin at the earliest years of a child’s life.

Fairfax Futures was launched in June 2004 at the Early Learning is Good Business Summit to highlight the importance of investing in quality early childhood education as an important investment in the future of Fairfax County.  Through the generous support of the Freddie Mac Foundation and strong commitment from Fairfax County’s Office for Children, Fairfax Futures launched a dialogue between early childhood educators who work with our county’s youngest residents. In April 2005, more than 200 early childhood educators came together to talk about building a common framework for school readiness. (Summary of the Early Learning Symposium).  Fairfax Futures continues to build partnerships with the business community, public sector agencies, early childhood educators, community organizations and families who support the school readiness of Fairfax County’s youngest residents and, as a result, help to guarantee the economic and social vitality of the county.

HyeSook Chung is currently working as a consultant with The Women’s Foundation on their child care and early education work.

Stepping Stones Research Update: January 2008

Posted on by Kerstin Gentsch

As part of our ongoing commitment–in partnership with The Urban Institute–to providing information and resources related to the goals of Stepping Stones, please find below summary of recent research on issues of economic security and financial independence for women and their families.

This research is summarized and compiled for The Women’s Foundation by Kerstin Gentsch of The Urban Institute, NeighborhoodInfo DC.

Financial Education and Wealth Creation News

The Effects of Welfare and IDA Program Rules on the Asset Holdings of Low-Income Families
By Signe-Mary McKernan, Caroline Ratcliffe, Yunju Nam
Urban Institute
September 2007

Examines the effects of a comprehensive set of 13 welfare, Food Stamp, individual development account (IDA), earned income tax credit (EITC), and minimum wage program rules on the asset holdings of low-education single mothers and families.  This report finds empirical evidence that more lenient asset limits in means-tested programs and more generous IDA program rules may have positive effects on asset holdings of low-education single mothers and families.

Main Findings:

  • More generous unrestricted asset limits are not associated with increased liquid asset holdings for either low-education single mothers or families.
  • More generous restricted account asset limits are associated with increased liquid asset holdings for low-education single mothers and families.
  • More generous Food Stamp vehicle asset limits are associated with increased vehicle asset holdings for low-education single mothers.
  • Expanded categorical eligibility in the Food Stamp Program is associated with increased vehicle asset holdings for low-education single mothers and families.
  • More generous IDA program rules are associated with increased liquid asset holdings and net worth.
  • A more generous state EITC amount is negatively associated with liquid asset holdings but the percentage of the state EITC that is refundable is positively associated with liquid asset holdings.
  • A more generous state minimum wage for federally covered categories (i.e., covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act) is associated with increased liquid asset holdings, vehicle asset holdings, and net worth.

Abstract and introduction.
Full paper. 

Assessing Asset Data on Low-Income Households: Current Availability and Options for Improvement
By Caroline Ratcliffe, Henry Chen, Trina R. Williams-Shanks, Yunju Nam, Mark Schreiner, Min Zhan, Michael Sherraden
Urban Institute
September 2007

Identifies the most reliable and informative data sources for understanding low-income households’ assets and liabilities, details their limitations, and provides options for improving asset data sources and collection methods.
The four evaluation criteria—relevancy, representativeness, recurrence, and richness of correlates—serve as a framework for assessing how effectively various data sets can provide an understanding of low-income households’ assets and liabilities.  Of the data sets reviewed, only one receives the highest ranking under all four criteria—the PSID. With these high rankings, the PSID has the potential to provide reliable information on low-income households’ assets and liabilities and is identified as a “primary” data set.

Because our primary research question asks that we identify the most informative and reliable data sources for understanding low-income households’ assets and liabilities, any data set designated a “primary data set” should comprehensively measure assets and liabilities (relevance criterion) and be representative of the overall U.S. low-income population (representativeness criterion).

The only other data sets that receive top ratings in these two criteria are the SIPP and SCF. They perform well enough in the other two criteria to also be deemed “primary” data sets.

Abstract and introduction. 
Full report. 

Jobs and Business Ownership News

Low-Income Workers and Their Employers: Characteristics and Challenges
By Gregory Acs and Austin Nichols
Urban Institute
May 2007

Defines and documents the characteristics of low-wage workers and their employers.  This paper finds that about one in four workers, ages 18 to 61, earned less than $7.73 an hour in 2003. Low-wage workers who reside in low-income families with children are substantially less educated than the average worker, are concentrated in industries with low wages, and have limited prospects for wage growth. Many policies aimed at low-wage workers are not well-targeted at workers in low-income families with children, in part because only one in four low-wage workers reside in such families. Nevertheless, policies targeted at low-wage workers may have broad benefits, including improving the lot of low-income families with children.

Abstract and introduction. 
Full paper. 

Place Matters: Employers, Low-Income Workers, and Regional Economic Development
By Nancy M. Pindus, Brett Theodos, G. Thomas Kingsley
Urban Institute
May 2007

Summarizes factors determining locational decisions of businesses and workers, as well as local economic growth, and suggests how employer needs as well as opportunities for low-income workers might be served by successful policies in the areas of housing, transportation, education and workforce development.

In looking at economic development, employer choices, and opportunities for low wage workers through the lens of place, it is clear that the landscape is shifting and policies must adapt accordingly. Spatial mismatch is more than employers and businesses leaving the urban core and poor urban residents lacking transportation to new job centers. Now, some urban centers are revitalizing, the creative class is growing in cities, and some suburbs (especially older suburbs and some outer-ring suburbs) are increasingly diverse and beginning to experience some of the same challenges as cities. And, there is a growing body of evidence that, in a knowledge-based economy, equity and tolerance are good for business. There is a growing consensus that geography of opportunity has changed, and continues to change.

Opportunities for new initiatives:

  • Housing policies that promote “workforce housing” and the deconcentration of poverty by considering the mix of the workforce and matching housing opportunities to that mix.
  • Transportation and other infrastructure funding that supports integration of systems and reduces sprawl by concentrating development near rail and bus hubs (“smart growth”).
  • Aligning workforce and education with economic development by addressing spatial mismatches between training opportunities and where people live and work; improving coordination between employers, workforce development intermediaries, and community colleges; and facilitating cross-firm career mobility within regional labor markets.

Abstract and introduction. 
Full paper. 

Building Skills and Promoting Job Advancement: The Promise of Employer-Focused Strategies
By Karin Martinson
Urban Institute
May 2007

Discusses what we know about employer-focused training, describes three employer-focused training models, and concludes with some key questions to address to assist in moving forward with this type of skill development strategy.  Three types of promising employer-focused job training:

  • Incumbent worker training provided directly at the workplace through employers is a large-scale effort to involve employers in skill building.
  • Sectoral training programs focus on providing training to a cluster of employers in one segment of the labor market.
  • Career ladders: A subset of sectoral initiatives focuses on developing career pathways that lead to higher-paying jobs.

Main challenges:

  • Many sectoral and career ladder initiatives require the involvement of multiple systems, including workforce development, community colleges, the business community, unions, and community groups. It can be difficult to gain the cooperation of all parties needed to enact the type of major changes required by many initiatives.
  • Many employer-focused training programs require substantial resources to plan and implement effective initiatives.
  • While strides forward have been made, it is a continuing challenge to develop training options that effectively reach low-income workers.

Abstract and introduction. 
Full paper. 

Meeting Responsibilities at Work and Home: Public and Private Supports
By Pamela Winston
Urban Institute
May 2007

Summarizes what we know about families’ access to supports, employers’ experiences, and public and employer efforts to expand them.

Paid parental/family leave:
Time for parents and infants to bond is vital to children’s positive development, and long hours in out-of-home care in early infancy pose risks for children’s development, especially in the low-quality settings to which low-income families often have access. The United States is one of only 5 of 173 nations surveyed for a global index that does not have public policies to provide paid time off for parents to care for and bond with a new infant. Further, while some employers and states provide paid parental leave, low-wage workers are least likely to have access to it.

Paid sick leave/paid time off:
Paid time off that can be used for workers’ short-term illnesses or those of their children, routine medical care, involvement in children’s school meetings or activities, or for other family or personal needs can play an important role in fostering family well-being. Almost half (48 percent) of American private-sector workers are estimated to lack any paid sick leave, amounting to over 54 million employees.

Workplace flexibility:
Flexibility for employees to change start or end times, take time out during work hours for emergencies, request shift changes or exemption from mandatory overtime, or otherwise adjust work hours for family obligations can also help parents fulfill their responsibilities to their employers and their families. 57 percent of workers indicated in 2002 they did not have access to traditional flextime.

Child care:
Access to affordable, consistent, and adequate-quality child care available during work hours can make an important difference to parents’ productivity and reliability on the job, and to children’s well-being. As a rule, the child care market does not provide a sufficient supply of affordable adequate-quality care, which can create particular challenges for low-income families. Public programs can provide financial and other support to many low-income families with low-wage workers, but typically many eligible people do not participate in them.

Abstract and introduction. 
Full paper. 

Maternity Leave in the United States: Paid Parental Leave is still not Standard, even among the Best U.S. Employers
By Vicky Lovell, Elizabeth O’Neill, Skylar Olsen
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
August 2007

Analyzes parental leave policies of Working Mother100 Best Companies.

  • Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of the best employers for working mothers provide four or fewer weeks of paid maternity leave, and half (52 percent) provide six weeks or less.
  • Nearly half of the best companies fail to provide any paid leave for paternity or adoption.
  • While more than one-quarter of companies (28 percent) provide nine or more weeks of paid maternity leave, many of the winners’ paid parental leave policies fall far short of families’ needs.
  • No company provides more than six weeks of paid paternity leave and only 7 of the 100 best companies provide seven weeks or more of paid adoptive leave.

Press release.
Fact sheet. 

Implementation and Sustainability: Emerging Lessons from the Early High Growth Job Training Initiative (HGJTI) Grants
By John Trutko, Carolyn T. O’Brien, Pamela A. Holcomb, and Demetra Smith Nightingale
Urban Institute
April 2007

Summarizes lessons from the early grantees of a major national effort to encourage the development of market-driven strategies addressing business and industry’s workforce challenges.

The discussions revealed insight into four general, interrelated, implementation issues:

1. Establishing and maintaining partnerships

  • Bringing the right partnerships together is critical to success.
  • Successful collaboration requires regular discussions and agreement regarding respective roles and responsibilities of each organization and the specifics of how staff will collaborate and share information.
  • The existence of the HGJTI grants helped partnering organizations to better understand the resources and capabilities of other organizations.
  • Employer partnerships are especially important to ensure that the workforce challenges are accurately defined and the strategies selected meet the current and immediate needs of the sector.
  • Projects operating across large areas, such as in rural locations, face special issues regarding partnerships.

2. Project start-up, development, and design

  • Effective and timely implementation of projects aimed at addressing critical workforce needs depends greatly on recruiting and retaining staff with the necessary occupation-specific skills.
  • Effective training programs should have a strong front-end assessment and recruitment and outreach procedures in place.

3. Targeting and reaching trainees

  • Grantees found that when serving disadvantaged populations and dislocated workers it is important to incorporate supportive services.
  • Recruiting and retaining participants is a major activity for training programs, and a particular challenge when targeting on widely varying populations.
  • At the time grantees were contacted, most had reached or were close to reaching their capacity-building and training goals.

4. Management and meeting federal grant requirements

  • It is important to begin to focus on post-grant sustainability well before grant funds are exhausted.
  • DOL/ETA staff provided various types of technical assistance and guidance to HGJTI grantees, but many needed more federal grants management support.
  • Grantees found that they needed a longer grant performance period.

Abstract and introduction.
Full paper. 

Child Care and Early Education News

Vouchers for Housing and Child Care: Common Challenges and Emerging Strategies
By Margery Austin Turner, Gina Adams, Monica Rohacek, Lauren Eyster
Urban Institute
August 2007

Highlights promising strategies for tackling challenges to housing and child care vouchers’ success.  Vouchers play an important role in federal efforts to help low-income families obtain both housing and child care. These programs constitute essential components of the promise of welfare reform to encourage and support work among low-income families. And both types of vouchers have the potential to enhance long-term outcomes for children.

Although federal housing and child care voucher programs differ in important respects, they also face common challenges. First, the success of both programs in helping families access high-quality services depends upon the supply of these services in the private market and the willingness of providers to accept voucher families. If acceptable rental housing units or child care slots are not available where families need them, vouchers are not effective. In addition, low-income families may face challenges in negotiating the private market, gathering information about available child care or housing options, or identifying providers that meet their needs and offer good quality. Finally, both housing and child care voucher programs have to balance requirements to avoid any overpayment of subsidies (either by serving ineligible families or by miscalculating the appropriate subsidy amount) with a mandate to support work and enhance well-being among low-income families.

Abstract and introduction. 
Full paper. 

Pre-Kindergarten to 3rd Grade (PK-3) School-based Resources and Third Grade Outcome
By Brett V. Brown and Kimber Bogard
ChildTrends
August 2007

Examines multiple PK-3 school based resources that tap into children’s experiences of early elementary grade learn to PK-3 school-based resources by key social groups of children defined by poverty status, parental education, and race/ethnicity.

While the majority of children had access to most positive PK-3 school influences, marked inequalities in access were still found. Unequal access to these school resources were observed by parental education and income level, as well as race and Hispanic origin. The most educationally at risk children (i.e., parents have less than a high school education, family income below the poverty level, Black non-Hispanic children) were the least likely groups of children to access high resource elementary schools. This finding clearly indicates that the quality of elementary schools must be considered when examining questions concerning achievement gaps by income and race/ethnicity.

Our preliminary multi-variate analyses point to some core school variables that predict academic and behavior skills necessary for future success and well-being. Of particular interest are the differential relationships between two clearly defined sets of PK- 3 school-based resources reported in kindergarten, and their relationships to academic and behavior outcomes in third grade. Reading and math scores were consistently predicted by strong principal leadership, high academic standards, and teachers collaboratively developing curricular materials. Teacher turnover, which can be considered indicative of instability within a school, was related to lower rates of self-control and school engagement among third grade children. These findings suggest that there may be PK-3 school-based resources that independently predict academic and behavioral outcomes. Though these results are preliminary, we believe they are the strongest research evidence yet that such factors each have influence over levels of school readiness in young children.

Full paper. 

Health and Safety News

Access to Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance among Low-Income Families: Who Has Access and Who Doesn’t?
By Lisa Clemans-Cope, Genevieve M. Kenney, Matthew Pantell, Cynthia Perry
Urban Institute
September 11, 2007

Examines access to employer-sponsored health insurance among low-income families.

  • In 2003 and 2004, about one in two children in low-income families did not have access to ESI, despite having one or more employed adults in the family.
  • Among low-income working families, families with lower levels of income, families with lower parental education, families where parents work in smaller establishments, and families in which no parent has union representation are all less likely to have access to ESI.
  • Public insurance fills a substantial part of the gap in health insurance coverage left by lack of ESI access for children in low-income working families, but parents without an offer of ESI remain uninsured at high rates. In fact, among families without an ESI offer, children are twice as likely—and parents nearly three times as likely—to be uninsured than families with an offer.

Abstract and introduction. 
Full paper. 

Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance and the Low-Income Workforce: Limitations of the System and Strategies for Increasing Coverage
By Linda J. Blumberg
Urban Institute
May 2007

Outlines the problems with employer-sponsored insurance from the perspective of employers, specifically those employing low-income workers, and discusses potential strategies for addressing them.  Problems with employer-sponsored insurance from the perspective of employers:

  • When employers competing for the same pool of workers tend to offer health insurance, then the pressure to offer such benefits increases for the other employers in that labor market. Likewise, in markets where ESI is not common, the pressure to offer it is significantly lessened.
  • One of the more controversial and complex issues related to the employer decision to offer insurance is whether the incidence of employer premium contributions falls upon the employer or upon the worker. While the best empirical evidence available indicates that, at least in large part, employer payments are passed back to workers via reduced wages, most employers do not believe this is the case.
  • Firms employing significant numbers of modest-wage workers will not be able to offer health insurance to their workers. This is because low-income workers will tend to prefer employment that provides additional wages as opposed to health insurance benefits to a significantly greater extent than will high-income workers.
  • Another aspect of the price of health insurance to employers is labor turnover. The administrative costs associated with health plan enrollment and disenrollment are higher for employers with high-turnover workforces.

Policy options to address shortcomings of the system:

  • Providing government subsidies for insurance coverage.
  • Requiring all residents to obtain a minimum level of insurance: individual mandates.
  • Requiring employers to participate in the financing of health insurance coverage for their workers: employer mandates.
  • Approaches for controlling health care costs.

Abstract and introduction. 
Full paper. 

Other News and Research

The Feminization of Poverty
by Megan Thibos, Danielle Lavin-Loucks, and Marcus Martin
The J. McDonals Williams Institute
May 2007

Examines the evidence for the feminization of poverty and analyzes the factors that contribute to the phenomenon; provides a portrait of feminized poverty at national and local levels; examines the role of public policy in alleviating women’s poverty and proposes policies that could significantly reduce the magnitude of the feminization of poverty.

Two schools of thought on the reasons for the feminization of poverty:

The feminization of poverty exists because of significant changes in the family structure such that households headed by females are not only a larger proportion of households but also are disproportionately impacted by factors contributing to poverty compared with other types of households.

Structural changes in the economy have caused the displacement of many women into occupational sectors that are gender-specific, low-wage, and low-benefit employment opportunities—such as pinkcollar jobs. Moreover, the shift into a knowledge-based economy has meant that those females with the least educational attainment and the least work skills will be least likely to experience work opportunities that can effectively and permanently move them and their families out of poverty.

Our focus is on three broad public policy areas that can have a positive impact on moving female-headed households out of poverty and into the self-sufficiency:

1) Expanding educational opportunities
2) Livable wages
3) Equitable wages and occupational segregation

Full report.

Thanks and see you next month with more research from the Stepping Stones issue areas!

Fall doesn't have to mean a child care crunch for parents in Fairfax.

Posted on by Lois Kirkpatrick

In Fairfax County, more babies are born in August than at any other time of the year. Working parents who added children to their families this summer face tough choices this fall. 

Will they be able to find child care that will allow both parents to go back to work?

“More than one-fourth of mothers who don’t work say the reason is that they can’t find good or affordable child care,” says Judith Rosen, director of the Fairfax County Department of Family Services’ Office for Children.

The Office for Children runs the Child Care Assistance and Referral program, which helps families find and pay for child care. This free service gives parents information about 2,100 providers who have state licenses or county permits to care for children in their homes, and more than 300 licensed child care centers. The Office for Children ensures that child care providers with county permits have met the health and safety standards required by Virginia law.

In Fairfax County, 56 percent of households with children 12 years-old or younger have both parents working outside the home. The demand for child care continues to grow as a result of the county’s low unemployment rate and high cost of living. Among children from working families, 73 percent are regularly cared for by someone other than a parent.

“Parents without dependable child care can become worried and distracted employees who, despite their best efforts, end up repeatedly missing work or dropping out of the workforce altogether,” Rosen says.

The Office for Children helps reduce employee stress by helping parents find care for their children.

For more information about child care providers in Fairfax County, call the Office for Children at 703-449-8484, or search the online database.

Lois Kirkpatrick is the Marketing & Strategic Analysis Manager for the Fairfax County Dept. of Family Services Office for Children. 

Do you have something to say about child care, or other issues impacting women, and particularly low-income single moms, in Virginia?  Join Washington Area Women’s Foundation for a Voice and Vision Forum in Fairfax County, Virginia on November 16.  Come learn about the impact Stepping Stones is having on women’s lives in Northern Virginia and throughout our region, and offer your take on how we can best shape its second phase–with a focus on child care and the health and safety of women and girls.

Low-income women missing on Mommy War battlefield.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

The "Mommy Wars," as they’re known, are heating up again, but there are key players missing from the field, it would seem. 

According to a recent article in the San Fancisco Chronicle by Maya Rupert, "The working wounded: Most women don’t have a choice to stay home with kids," it’s time to reframe the way we talk about women, work, motherhood and what the "choice" between family and work really means–and to rethink who is part of this discussion. 

Of note, Rupert writes, "For low-income mothers, summer brings a different set of challenges: finding a new means of child care now that the days aren’t filled with classroom instruction. There often is no money for vacations, and certainly not for the sizable registration fees required at the various day camps. But these concerns aren’t part of the parenting debates — and of the Mommy Wars in particular…The result is an explicit and inexplicable rejection of the view that class should matter in discussing the expectation of mothers to stay home. In essence, it’s an onslaught of negative third-wave feminism, which assumes everyone has the financial security to make a choice and tells low-income and poor mothers that this doesn’t concern them."

And, Rupert reminds us, by including these voices–since really, when it comes to child care, health insurance and the other issues that stand out as challenges for working parents–male and female–we’re likely to be forced to think of ways that are really better for all women, men and children, across income brackets.

She writes, "The Mommy Wars can be won when we redefine victory…This will require us to rethink what it means to be a good mother. The concession that good motherhood requires an abundance of time to spend at home with children overemphasizes quantity over quality and presents an incredibly simplistic view of motherhood, one that stacks the deck against lower-income moms.  Additionally, it will require us to abandon the very premise of the discussion, which is that child rearing is naturally the domain of women. We need to rethink fatherhood and seriously question why we still expect mothers to take responsibility for the bulk of child care."

As discussed last week, women are being forced to make impossible choices, ones that serve no one–not them, not their children, not their families, not our communities. 

This piece, and the concepts within, are a great reminder of the importance of looking at issues that impact women and our communities through the voices and perspectives of all involved and affected, and of including the voices of those who may be the least likely to be heard by doing the hard work of seeking them out and raising them up. 

Caution: Lack of affordable child care may result in lack of children.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

A new national poll has found that women are delaying having children because of the high cost of child care and preschool–which can run about $10,000 annually (more than my college tuition not that long ago).

For middle income women ($35-50K), the poll found that one in three said that the cost of child care or preschool made them decide against having a baby or delay having one. Those polled often had to give up buying appliances or other household needs because of the high cost of child care.

Some of the women polled are married and part of dual income households. I can’t help but think then of the burden of child care costs on the women served by The Women’s Foundation, who are primarily single mothers earning less than $35K a year in an economy with a very high cost of living.

i wonder what choices and decisions then face a woman with less earning power, less help and a greater financial burden to assume alone.

Here in Washington, D.C., according to our Portrait Project, 2002 market rates for childcare for a family with an infant and a preschooler was around $22,900 per year–or one third of the salary of a couple earning $77,000.

Now, imagine paying my college tuition four times over each year as a single woman earning less than $35,000 per year–which is what a lot of women in our region are trying to do (as I recall, doing it once over for my single mom wasn’t exactly a cake walk). For a single woman in our region earning $26K per year (not atypical), childcare would consume 70 percent of her earnings.

Forget not buying an allowance at that point. What about food, and clothing?

And it’s not just D.C. Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties have the highest estimated childcare costs of all counties in Maryland, at $15,329 and $11,495 respectively for families with an infant and preschooler.

If you’re earning less than $35K, or even less than $50 or $75, and raising kids, that doesn’t leave a lot of budgetary wiggle room.

As Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said regarding the poll, “The high cost of child care and preschool are causing women to make agonizing decisions. We need to invest more to ensure access to quality child care and preschool for all American families and cut crime in the process.”

Cutting crime isn’t the only thing that would be reduced were child care to be made more affordable and available in our area–and the nation. Without childcare, people–and particularly single mothers–can’t hold down their jobs.

Our Portrait Project found that there is an estimated 62 percent shortfall in the supply of regulated childcare to meet the potential demand in Washington, D.C.

Affordable child care is such a win-win on so many fronts. It may seem like a women’s issue, but really, it’s everyone’s issue, because it touches every facet of our lives, at pretty much every level of the economic spectrum.

This is why it’s one of the four focal points of Stepping Stones. Because women’s economic security, and the strength of our community, depends on access to such key basic services and needs.