This article originally appeared in the May-June 2002 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

Ask the Advocate

Linking child care and economic development

By Erica Williams

Q: How can we get our county to recognize the importance of child care in the local economy?

A: Child care programs can benefit in many ways when counties include child care in their economic planning. For example

In San Mateo County, child care advocates worked with local governments to include child care in transportation plans, says Sally Cadigan of San Mateo Children's Coordinating Council. The county now encourages new businesses to create on-site child care facilities and provides a subsidy of $75 a month for parents who take public transportation to child care.

In Kern County, when companies seek assistance from the county, officials consider, among other things, "the extent to which the applicant has identified and plans to address the employees' child care needs," says Kathe Sickles, child and family services facilitator at Kern County's Community Connection for Child Care. And child care representatives now sit on the Board of Trade panel that oversees economic development in the county.

In Santa Cruz, "we talk with the planning department about zoning. We are incorporated in the discussion of housing elements in the county's general planning," says Marcia Meyer, Child Care Development Programs coordinator for the Santa Cruz County Office of Education. "We are a part of discussions that we weren't part of before."

These are some of the results of the Local Investment in Child Care (LINCC) project of the National Economic Development and Law Center (NEDLC), which has been working with coalitions of child care providers, advocates, and business people in eight California counties. "LINCC is a long-term strategy for getting child care recognized in the community," says Meyer. Advocates can:

• Educate providers: "The first step is to start thinking about child care as an economic force," says Jennifer Wohl, Child Care Program manager at NEDLC. "That's hard for child care providers because they think of themselves as nurturers rather than business people," says Meyer. But recognizing child care providers' importance to the economy "does not mean that they have a diminished ability to provide quality child care."
  
  
• Educate local officials: NEDLC helps educate local governments by developing Child Care Economic Impact Reports, which show that child care is one of the largest industries in many California counties. "Have facts and figures about child care," advises Sickles, "like how many child care providers, employees, and children in child care there are in the county. Don't be afraid to get involved in county planning sessions and become visible. Go before the board of supervisors and city council.

  "It took time," she adds, "but our local officials embraced the concept of the importance of child care. They got it!"

• Form a child care collaborative: "When the [NEDLC] impact report was final, we held a meeting. It was the first time that I had experienced that kind of diversity in people coming to the table to talk about child care," says Meyer. The result of the meeting is Child Care Ventures, a collaborative of public and private child care and small business agencies, which drew up a five-year business plan for child care. "We have eight child care facilities projects in process, and we have helped family child care providers access over $800,000 in loans over the last year," Meyer reports.

Contact

• NEDLC, LINCC Project, 510-251-2600, www.nedlc.org

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