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Public-Private Partnerships Supporting Early Care and Education and After-School Care

States have provided support and funding for public-private partnerships and collaborations to provide comprehensive systems of early care and education for young children. Anticipated advantages include leveraging potential funding, coordinating and aligning resources, increasing availability of technical assistance, and building public will to support policies and funding.

The following are some examples of State public-private partnership structures and collaborative strategies that receive State funding to improve the quality of and expand access to early care and education programs. These examples do not include all States that have implemented public-private partnerships, but are meant to represent a range of approaches States have taken to establish such partnerships to increase investment in early care and education programs. Additional resources are available via NCCIC’s Library, which can be accessed at http://nccic.acf.hhs.gov/index.cfm?do=oll.search. NCCIC does not endorse any organization, publication, or resource.

States

Arizona

  • Arizona Early Education Fund
    Arizona Community Foundation
    800-222-8221
    World Wide Web: www.arizonaearlyeducationfunds.org/

    The Arizona Community Foundation and Tucson Community Foundation/United Way joined other organizations across Arizona to establish the Arizona Early Education Fund. The fund is designed to help communities statewide build the quality and capacity of early care and education programs to support child health, literacy, early care and education professional development, and quality enhancement of programs for children birth to age 5. The Arizona Department of Economic Security works through the School Readiness Board to partner with the fund. 

Florida

  • Child Care Executive Partnership (CCEP)
    Agency for Workforce Innovation, Office of Early Learning, (AWI OEL)
    850-922-4200
    World Wide Web: www.ccep.bz/

    CCEP is a public-private partnership that helps employers meet the needs of working parents. Through this program, Federal and State funding is matched with contributions from local governments, charitable foundations, and participating businesses on a dollar-for-dollar basis to provide child care services to participating families. The Federal funding is part of the Child Care and Development Fund, a portion of which is dedicated to CCEP. Funding is authorized by the Florida State Legislature through AWI OEL. At the State level, the CCEP board is responsible for determining the program’s annual budget, distributing program funds to local early learning coalitions, and making policy decisions regarding administration of the program. At the local level, early learning coalitions make funding decisions. Local child care resource and referral agencies administer the program, manage contributions, and conduct eligibility determinations for families who wish to participate in the program.

Georgia

  • Smart Start Georgia
    877-StartGA (877-782-7842)
    Email: info@smartstartga.org
    World Wide Web: www.smartstartga.org/home.php

    Smart Start Georgia is a public-private partnership among the State of Georgia, Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation, United Ways of Georgia, Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and more than 40 other organizations. It was established in 1999 as the Georgia Early Learning Initiative to develop and implement a long-term plan to increase school readiness in Georgia. Through innovative programs and outreach initiatives, Smart Start Georgia is working to improve the quality of early care and education for all children birth through age 5 and promote lifetime learning. The partnership is funded by a combination of public and private sources. In Fiscal Year 2004–2005, Smart Start Georgia received $11.1 million from the State and about $2.6 million from private sources. A list of State partners is available on the Web at www.smartstartga.org/about_us/who_we_are/partnerships.php.

Hawaii

  • Good Beginnings Alliance
    808-531-5502
    Email: http://www.goodbeginnings.org/contact.htm
    Word Wide Web: www.goodbeginnings.org/goodwork.htm

    The Good Beginnings Alliance is a public-private initiative for Hawaii’s youngest children and their families. Good Beginnings is designated in Act 77 of the 1997 Session Laws and is responsible for building Hawaii’s early childhood system. The alliance works in partnership with families, communities, policy makers, early childhood care providers, businesses, and advocates to shape public will and public policy, mobilize action, and maximize resources to ensure all of Hawaii’s children are safe, healthy, and ready to succeed.

Indiana

  • Indiana Child Care Fund, Inc.
    317-396-2720
    World Wide Web: www.in.gov/fssa/children/childcare.html#3

    The Indiana Child Care Fund was officially launched in 1997 under the guidance of the governor to increase quality child care capacity and improve existing care through partnerships between the public and private sectors. It currently manages over $10 million in both public and private funds. Grants are administered and managed with funds from the Child Care and Development Fund’s quality earmark funds along with private sector matching funds. Competitive grants have been awarded to more than 40 counties to address critical needs for infant and toddler care, child care for children with special needs, and overall child care quality enhancement. Mentoring and technical assistance is being offered by State agencies and private sector members of the Indiana Child Care Fund’s board of directors.

Minnesota

  • Minnesota Out-of-School Time Partnership
    612-626-3513
    Email: lal@umn.edu
    World Wide Web: www.mncost.org/partners.html

    The Minnesota Out-of-School Time Partnership is a network of public and private organizations founded on the belief that all Minnesota communities should have options for children and youth to learn, develop, and contribute during nonschool hours. It supports development of an integrated, statewide capacity-building system to increase the effectiveness and impact of out-of-school time programs, including school-age care settings. The partnership is a coordinated effort between the Minnesota Department of Human Services (the Lead Agency for the Child Care and Development Fund) and Minnesota Department of Education, and is administered by the latter. Partners include the University of Minnesota, foundations, various community-based and statewide youth-serving agencies, State government, Minnesota School-Age Care Alliance, and Minnesota Community Education Association. Additional information is available on the Web at www.mncost.org/.

Nebraska

  • Community Learning Centers Network
    Nebraska Children and Families Foundation
    402-476-9401
    Email: info@nebraskachildren.org
    World Wide Web: http://nebraskachildren.org/about_us/programs/clc_network/

    The Community Learning Centers Network is a partnership of the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, the State Department of Education, State Department of Health and Human Services, local 21st Century Learning Center grantees, after-school programs, community partners, schools, private funders, legislators, and other key stakeholders. The group is developing infrastructure to support this network across the State. The network functions as a sustainable structure of statewide, regional, and local partnerships, particularly school-community partnerships focused on supporting policy development at all levels. Development and growth of statewide policies will help secure the resources needed to sustain new and existing after-school programs and support statewide systems to ensure programs are of high quality.

  • Nebraska Early Childhood Endowment
    World Wide Web: http://www.nde.state.ne.us/ECH/RFP%20Endowment/Overview.pdf

    Nebraska’s Legislative Bill 1256 establishes an endowment fund to provide early childhood education grants to programs for at-risk children from birth to age 3.

North Carolina

  • Smart Start North Carolina (Smart Start)
    919-821-7999
    Email: yhhuntley@smartstart-nc.org
    World Wide Web: www.smartstart-nc.org

    Smart Start is a public-private initiative that provides early education funding to all of North Carolina’s 100 counties. Smart Start funds are administered at the local level through 82 local nonprofit organizations called Local Partnerships. Services at the local level vary depending on local needs. The North Carolina Partnership for Children is the statewide nonprofit organization that provides oversight and technical assistance for local partnerships. Funding for Smart Start is currently $192 million in State funds. Smart Start also raises at least 10 percent in private funds. Smart Start funds are used to improve the quality of child care, make child care more affordable and accessible, provide access to health services, and offer family support.

South Carolina

  • South Carolina First Steps to School Readiness (First Steps)
    803-734-0479 or toll-free at 877-621-0865
    Email: 1ststeps@scfirststeps.org
    World Wide Web: www.scfirststeps.org

    First Steps is a comprehensive statewide education initiative to help children reach 1st grade healthy and ready to succeed. The emphasis placed on collaboration as a means of improving services for children and families is made clear in section 59-152-21 of the First Steps legislation, which was signed into law in 1999. Public and private support are combined through county partnerships to enable individual communities to address the unmet needs of young children and their families. First Steps develops, promotes, and assists efforts of agencies, private service providers, and public and private organizations at the State and community levels to focus needed services, ensure efficiency of resources, and eliminate duplication of efforts.

Vermont

  • Building Bright Futures: Vermont’s Alliance for Children and Families (BBF)
    World Wide Web: www.leg.state.vt.us/PreKEducationStudyCommittee/Documents/Early_Ed_BBF_Report_to_Leg.htm

    The Building Bright Futures Council is a public/private partnership with 19 members and public/ private cochairs that was established through an executive order in June 2006. It includes representatives from child care, health, and education on both State and local councils.

Washington

  • Thrive by Five Washington
    Email: thrivebyfivewa@gmmb.com
    World Wide Web: www.thrivebyfivewa.org/

    Thrive by Five Washington is an organization of funders designed to help enhance parent education and support, child care, preschool, and other early learning environments throughout Washington State. It was established in 2006 and supports the infrastructure of the Early Care and Education Coalition, an existing public-private partnership advocating for early learning in Washington. The board of Thrive by Five Washington consists of bipartisan, statewide leaders representing government, business, and the nonprofit sector. The organization will serve as an intermediary for State and private funders to make pooled and aligned investments to boost access to quality, affordable early learning across the State. A fact sheet is available on the Web at www.thrivebyfivewa.org/assets/thrive_by_five_fact_sheet.pdf.

Updated September 2007

 
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