Foundation for Their Future: Building a Better Early Education System for America

1. Foundation for Their Future: Building a Better Early Education System for America Child Care Action Campaign Faith Wohl President

2. Child Care Today: The Market Doesn’t Work • More than 10 million children are in care every day. • More than 80 percent of care is rated “mediocre to poor.” • Too expensive for young families to afford. • Teachers earn poverty-level wages, without benefits.

3. Child Care Today: System Built on Shifting Sands • Children experience inconsistent care, broken relationships. • Working parents miss 7,000,000 days of work/year. • Employers face unexpected, expensive absences. • Potential loss of valuable work skills, productivity, concentration.

4. $3 billion in lost time every year due to child care absences

5. What I Learned at DuPont: Breaking the Silence • Child care is a mainstream employment issue. • Be guided by employees’ needs: don’t be afraid to ask! • It takes more than one child care center.

6. What I Learned in France: “Welcome and Awaken” • Quality costs more than families can afford. • “It takes a village” ...and a comprehensive system. • Child care is preparation for life. • Combine a large vision with attention to detail.

7. What I Learned at GSA: Balancing Quality and Cost • If quality standards are set, they can be achieved. • The economics of child care are fragile and difficult. • Good spaces are needed to support good programs.

8. What I Learned from the Military: America’s Best Care • High standards firmly enforced, supported by training. • Money doesn’t guarantee good care – but it helps. • Driven by readiness – and family’s role in reenlistment.

9. What I’ve Learned at Child Care Action Campaign • Child care affects the bottom line. • Child care makes critical connection with education. • Child care is really “early learning.” • U.S. faces a crisis of quality, affordability, and access.

10. Crisis in Care Affects School Readiness • One third of children are not ready for kindergarten. • By fourth grade, 40 percent cannot read at basic grade level. • Many graduate from high school without literacy skills. • Fifteen percent of college graduates are functionally illiterate.

11. Crisis in Care AffectsCollege and Work Readiness • Half of Fortune 500 companies spend $300 million per year to teach basic skills. • 67 percent are high school graduates • Forty percent of students entering community colleges are unprepared in math, reading and writing. • 23 percent of expenditures for remediation

12. Resolving Crisis Demands Earlier Start • Three-quarters of brain develops after birth. • Children learn in context of important relationships. • Human brain can change – but timing is crucial. • Early care has long-lasting impact.

13. The Construction Industry Can Make A Difference • Commit space in new buildings for child care. • Change the national dialogue on education reform. • Raise powerful voice in Washington and state capitals. • Teach community construction financing techniques.

14. Transform Thinking Among Builders and Managers • Child care is more than a service to working parents. • Child care is more than an amenity to your customers. • Child care is more than infrastructure. • Child care can meet the needs of stakeholders and stockholders.

15. Child care is the cornerstone of the education of a whole generation of children!