LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES FOUNDATION SUPPORTS
LEE COUNTY’S EMPLOYERS’ CHILD CARE ALLIANCE
AND 12 OTHER EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAMS
WITH GRANTS TOTALING OVER $1-MILLION
The Lucent Technologies Foundation is funding the Lucent Universal Preschool Initiative, a $1 million grant program to encourage universal access to quality early childhood education. Thirteen partnerships selected from over 185 applicants have received grants through this initiative. Lucent’s partners for its Universal Preschool Initiative are The Child Care Action Campaign and the Families and Work Institute. The Child Care Action Campaign is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening families, improving education and advancing the well being of children. The Families and Work Institute is a nonprofit organization that addresses the changing nature of work, family and community life.
"One-third of our children entering elementary schools today lack basic skills," said Deborah Stahl, executive director of the Lucent Foundation. "We believe that child development should be a fundamental objective for our communities and that all of us play a critical role in providing our youth with the care and education they need to be successful."
"The Lucent grants make it possible for us to lend significant, concrete support to partnerships serving children and families," said Faith Wohl, president of the Child Care Action Campaign. "This funding will help them expand their reach, and ultimately, provide more universal access to quality preschool programs, one of CCAC’s goals. "There is increasing awareness that investment in the early years is critical to a child’s development. The Lucent grant is an important milestone in the history of early education and care in this country," said Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute.
The Lucent Foundation will provide funding for programs in: Lee County, Alabama; Allentown, Pa.; Boston; Chicago; Danbury, Conn.; DeSoto County, Miss.; Greenville, S.C.; Libby, Mont.; Newark, N.J.; New York; Nyack, N.Y.; Oklahoma City; and Phoenix, AZ.
Selection was based on the quality of collaborative partnerships with schools and community child care, the maturity of the partnership’s work, documentation of children’s and families’ needs, clarity of project description, and the potential to establish a legacy or to influence policy change. In addition, environmental factors such as readiness of the community to support universal preschool and early childhood education policies were taken into account.
Alabama’s grantee, the Employers’ Child Care Alliance, has worked for (4) years to develop programs and support to enhance the quality of child care options for working families. Their unique Quality Enhancement Partnership (QEP) matches a local business/employer sponsor with a child care program where employee’s children spend the day. The program consists of Child Development training for teachers and staff and an innovative STEPS to Accreditation program that provides support and assistance to participating programs to help them advance through logical, incremental steps to national accreditation.
Alabama’s Lucent Preschool Initiative is important to the Lucent Initiative because of its unusual partnership components. "The concept of the ECCA is important as an example of the type of broad public/private community partnership that will be necessary to address all of the complex issues related to insuring access to quality early learning for all children. But, our Lucent Initiative is broader, because it is also a local-state partnership between the ECCA and the Alabama Department of Children’s Affairs and Office of School Readiness," explains Gail Piggott, ECCA Manager.
In June, the local School Readiness Advisory Committee and its state counterpart met in Opelika and were joined in a site visit by Susan Ochshorn, Executive Director of the Child Care Action Campaign and Deborah Stahl, Executive Director of Lucent Foundation. Ochshorn presented the national perspective of prekindergarten from the Child Care Action Campaign, and Stahl gave an overview of the national initiative and Lucent’s commitment to quality early learning.
The grantors are particularly interested in how the Alabama initiative develops, as it is the only one in the country with such a unique partnership, joining the local group with state counterparts in developing a model. According to Piggott, "This provides an excellent opportunity: as we are working to develop or realign resources at the local level to create a practical model, our state counterpart is providing support with policy and funding issues that can only come from that level. And, our premise is simple: though prekindergarten usually refers only to 4-year olds, we know that quality early learning is critical from birth. In our community, up to 70% of children under six have their only parent(s) in the workforce; so, finding where they are and working to enhance these daily experiences outside the home is the logical place to begin."
The experience of the ECCA with the Quality Enhancement Partnership and relationships developed with child care, schools, and others interacting with young children and their families, provides the sound experience base from which to move forward with the ambitious initiative. And, through the Lucent grant, the ECCA is able to broaden the collaborative so that everyone is involved in the process to:
To date, the Local School Readiness Committee has developed a strategic plan and formed a Teacher Transition Team (made up of child care, HeadStart, and public school teachers) and a Family Connection Team to provide input into the process. No doubt this is a complex task, but the group has already determined that all of these diverse partners agree on more than they disagree on; and all realize the urgency of the need to work collectively to move forward with more than desire and good intentions. And, this will certainly mean problem solving in different ways.
For instance, the group has learned that they can impact the experiences of a majority of young children by expanding the QEP, supporting quality enhancement in child care, preschools, and HeadStart, where a majority of Lee County children are enrolled. But, information obtained through the registration of this year’s kindergarten students reveals that there are children (who are in the 70% with parents in the workforce) who enter school with no preschool experiences. This is an area where new programs might be indicated.
But, the initial goal is to work with existing programs where children are already placed: providing resources, incentives, and support with corresponding accountability measures. Not only is this a financial necessity, but probably has more long-term benefits. This will be less expensive and quicker to implement and has a better chance of surviving after any one-time influx of funding expires. It will also mean that any enhancements can filter down to the youngest children, where the need and potential are greatest. But, more importantly, it builds on and further develops what already exists, rather than supplanting it.
One of the underlying concerns with any "preschool" initiative is from the child care community, and it has merit. If new free programs are created for "4-year olds" outside the child care setting, this will syphon off the only age group where programs can make up for the almost certain financial losses incurred for offering infant/toddler care. And, in Lee County and many other communities, there is already a critical shortage of options for parents of very young children. It is important that care be taken so that none of the efforts to enhance early learning should exacerbate this or other existing child care problems.
As the Lucent Preschool Initiative rolls out, funding for (8) sites will be provided through state agencies. An additional (10) sites are possible through funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission. In Lee County, the strategy, process, and product are being documented; and the experiences of the group in identifying needs and resources, potential barriers and unanticipated problems and solutions will be used to assist other communities as they begin to form similar local collaboratives to insure quality early learning experiences.