Westchester County needs business leaders to invest in Early Care and Learning in order to spur the economy. To comprehend why you need to invest, look at The Business Case for Early Childhood Investment a supplement to Westchester County Business Journal and It’s Our Business: Why New York State Business Leaders Support Early Childhood Education.
Click here to view Winning Beginning’s video of NYS business leaders talking about why they support Early Childhood Education and why you should, too.
The Council’s supports Westchester’s Workforce of Today and Tomorrow. In March 2011, business and other community leaders came together to hear a program on the importance of quality early care and education for business growth and prosperity. The program included Kim Jasmin, JPMorgan Chase Foundation’s Northeast Region Executive, spoke about the business benefits of supporting child care. Dr. Farhad Ameen, Professor of Economics at Westchester Community College, presented some compelling findings of a recent study that proved the economic return of supporting early care and education versus supporting vocational training programs or programming for older youth. Click here to review Dr. Ameen’s presentation.
Invest to improve your business! According to Winning Beginning NY, the average working parent misses nearly two weeks of work each year because of child care problems. A report by Cornell University pegs the cost to companies at $3 billion a year. Yet, when quality early care programs are available, businesses report less absenteeism and turnover, while enjoying greater worker retention and productivity. The Childcare Partnership Project has found that 85% of employers have improved employee recruitment by providing child care service
Invest in the Workforce of Today & Tomorrow! Nationally, 63% of children under five are in some type of child care arrangement every week. On average, young children with working mothers spend 36 hours a week in child care. Over the past decade, research has shown that 75% of a child’s brain growth occurs before age five. Furthermore, children who attend quality early learning programs are twice as likely to attend college. Birth to age five is a critical learning period. Click here for more information on a variety of benefits businesses may offer their employees, to improve work-life balance.
Facts & Resources:
Meeting the Workforce Needs of the Future… Means Meeting the Developmental Needs of Young Children Today by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Why Business Should Support Early Childhood Education by the Institute for a Competitive Workforce (ICW), the education and workforce nonprofit, nonpartisan, 501(c)3 affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. ICW promotes the rigorous educational standards and effective job training systems needed to preserve the strength of America's greatest economic resource, its workforce.
The Heckman Equation Brochure: Economic Development Starts at Birth by Professor James Heckman is a Nobel Memorial Prize winner on Economics and an expert in the economics of human development.
Ready Nation, formerly Partnership for America’s Economic Success is a national coalition of executives, economists, policy experts, civic leaders and advocates mobilizing business leaders to improve tomorrow's economy through smart policy investments in young children today. They have completed several reports (see below) on the importance of investing in the early childhood sector.
Vital to Growth: The Early Childhood Sector of the U.S. Economy – Summary
Vital to Growth: The Early Childhood Sector of the U.S. Economy – Full Report
Proposed State and Federal Resource Allocation Principles – Summary
Proposed State and Federal Resource Allocation Principles – Full Report
The Economic Promise of Investing in High-Quality Preschool: Using Early Education to Improve Economic Growth and the Fiscal Sustainability of States and the Nation by the Committee for Economic Development.
Cost-Effective Investments in Children at Risk- February 2011 by the Office Of The State Comptroller, Thomas P. Napoli, State Comptroller.
Investing In New York: An Economic Analysis of the Early Care and Education Sector by the Early Care and Learning Council.
The Economic Importance of the Child Care Sector from the Research & Policy Brief Series of Cornell University and Child Care & Parent Productivity: Making the Business Case by Karen Shellenback of Cornell University.
Learn more about the state of child care:
Westchester County Child Care Status Report- 2011
Westchester County Child Care Status Report – July 2010
2012 Leaving Children to Chance (Child Care Homes), NACCRRA’s assessment of state standards and oversight of small family child care homes.
We Can Do Better – State Child Care Center Licensing, NACCRRA’s 2011 update on child care center regulation and oversight across the country.
Parents and the High Cost of Child Care: 2010 Update
