The Economic Impact of the Family Child Care Tool Kit Licensing Project

Last month, as part of the United Way of Greater New Haven’s Success by 6 Turns Six celebrations, All Our Kin held two great events to celebrate an economic evaluation of the Family Child Care Tool Kit Licensing Program. The evaluation, conducted by the University of Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, revealed that the Tool Kit project delivers $15-20 of economic benefits for every dollar spent.  

Family, friend and neighbor caregivers provide much of the daily child care to families in low-income neighborhoods. Through the Tool Kit program, All Our Kin provides materials, mentorship and support to help unlicensed family, friend and neighbor caregivers meet health and safety standards, fulfill state licensing requirements, and become part of a professional community of child care providers. The Tool Kits include application materials, health and safety supplies, vouchers for first aid training, and curriculum materials such as educational toys and high-quality children’s books. All Our Kin also provides caregivers with mentorship, counseling, and support as they complete the licensing process. Through the program, the availability and quality of care for Connecticut’s infants and toddlers are expanded and improved.

The Tool Kit project, a true example of collaboration in action, was conceived by the New Haven Early Childhood Council and is implemented in partnership with the Connecticut Children’s Museum. The United Way of Greater New Haven has invested in the project almost since it began, and their support has been crucial to the Tool Kit’s success.

The Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis study found that by facilitating access to high-quality child care, the program increases opportunities for parents to enter the workforce. In fact, for every child care provider licensed through our program, four to five parents have entered the workforce. The evaluation also found that:

• Sixty percent of providers earned $5,000 more the first year after licensure and 45 percent of providers earned at least $10,000 more the second year.
• The average income of program graduates was $23,000 per year, 10.4 percent higher than the regional average.
• Over 50 percent of Tool Kit program graduates went on to achieve either an Associate’s Degree in Early Childhood Education or a Child Development Associate credential.

The combination of the Tool Kit Licensing Program’s workforce development and workforce support has a substantial economic impact in New Haven; between 2006 and 2009, All Our Kin’s program generated $18.4 million in additional tax revenue and $15.2 million in gross regional product (GRP).

During our first event, held at the Children’s Museum, CCEA economist Bill Waite remarked that they were conservative in their estimates and that the actual economic return rate may be even higher. Jennifer Heath, executive vice-president of the United Way of Greater New Haven, stated, “The United Way has invested almost $240,000 in the Tool Kit project since the inception of Success by 6; using the conservative figure of a $15 economic return, our investment leveraged $3.6 million for the community.” 

At our event at the capitol in Hartford, policy makers and legislators learned about the economic impact of our work from Dr. Fred Carstensen of CCEA; Dr. Walter Gilliam, director of the Edward Zigler Center for Child Development and Social Policy; Stan McMillen, managing economist at the CT Department of Economic and Community Development; and Myra Jones-Taylor, assistant professor at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work.

The overall theme of the panelists’ presentations was that investing in and supporting family child care providers is critical in these times of economic crisis not just because it has an immediate economic return, but because family child care providers care for the majority of our most vulnerable infants and toddlers, provide a crucial workforce support, and help keep struggling families together. They give our children, the workforce of tomorrow, the educational foundation they need to succeed in school and beyond.

We think Dr. Stan McMillen said it best when he said, “Governor, are you listening? This is the best investment a state can make.”