Here is who is on the Blue Ribbon committee revamping child care in Tarrant County
Kara Waddell, the CEO of the nonprofit Child Care Associates, joined with Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker to announce the membership of a Blue Ribbon Action Committee on child care Tuesday at a City Council meeting.
The committee, which was formed in November to prioritize funding from the American Rescue Plan made available amid the pandemic, is made up of philanthropic leaders, child care advocates and educators from across the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
“Our youngest children, as well as their caretakers and educators, are facing a crisis, and we must act quickly to find and implement bold solutions,” Parker said in a statement. “We’ve drawn together innovative leaders from across North Texas to help us identify and accelerate solutions to these systemic challenges, and the Blue Ribbon Action Committee on Child Care and Child Care Associates will lead the way on those next steps.”
The 16-member committee made up of educators, advocates and philanthropists plans to advise and oversee a broad set of tasks, including work rethinking the cost model of child care, which has left many small businesses and centers just breaking even for decades.
Committee includes advocates, philanthropists
Among them is Jerletha McDonald, a former home day care provider and the founder of Arlington DFW Child Care, an advocacy and training organization.
McDonald told the Star-Telegram that it was important for the voice of providers to be at the table when decisions are being made.
“Child care ... is the workforce behind the workforce — this is a time for us to come together to work together,” she said. “Family child care, center-based child care, faith-based child care — all of us.”
Other members of the committee include former U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings; Elva LeBlanc, the acting chancellor of Tarrant County College; and nonprofit representatives from various foundations.
The full committee includes:
▪ Rose Bradshaw, North Texas Community Foundation (co-chair)
▪ Alfreda Norman, The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (co-chair)
▪ Jay Chapa, J Chapa Strategic Solutions
▪ Pete Geren, The Sid Richardson Foundation
▪ Dr. Jessica Gomez, Momentous Institute
▪ Chris Huckabee, Huckabee Inc.
▪ Dr. Elva LeBlanc, Tarrant County College
▪ Courtney Lewis, BanCorp South
▪ Jerletha McDonald, Arlington DFW Child Care
▪ Winjie Tang Miao, Texas Health Resources
▪ Jeremy Smith, The Rainwater Charitable Foundation
▪ Margaret Spellings, Texas 2036
▪ Katy Magruder, PNC Bank
▪ Drexell Owusu, Dallas Foundation
▪ Terese Stevenson, Rees-Jones Foundation
▪ Ebony Jones, Teach for America – Fort Worth
Committee plans to tackle cost of child care and educator pay
Child Care Associates, one of the largest child care providers in North Texas, and the largest provider of federally-funded Head Start programs in Tarrant County, is working to “coordinate a multiyear initiative around strategic investments that improve the lives of young children.”
That, according to the presentation and release Tuesday, includes revamping the cost model of child care, which barely allows most providers to remain open, and finding a new approach that covers “the true costs of quality child care.”
The committee and CCA will also find a way to rebuild the Early Educator Workforce, which was in flux before the pandemic — and has been slow to recover since, putting the sector in what some advocates call a crisis.
“Over the last few years, working parents and businesses realize afresh how much we depend on community access to quality child care,” Waddell said. “As the child care industry struggles to exist and recover, the time was right for our public officials to convene leaders to help navigate a way forward.”
Other goals of the committee are to improve the classrooms and physical infrastructure of child care in the region, and work with elementary schools and community-based early learning centers to find ways that they can both provide pre-K to students who want it.
Expanded funding has already led to an expansion of services being provided by CCA.
According to a presentation made at Tuesday morning’s city council meeting, Child Care Associates is on track to serve 9,000 students a day, up from 6,000 before the pandemic.
“More lower-income working families can now more affordably access the child care they need,” Waddell said in an email after the meeting.
Announcement follows $2M investment
The formation of the committee follows an initial $2 million investment in November to give short-term raises to some early educators.
The $2 million supplement for child care educator compensation is being funded by American Rescue Plan dollars allocated to Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County for child care quality.
Only a limited number of early educators were eligible for the raises under the initial investment, with only programs participating in the state’s quality and improvement system, Texas Rising Star, qualifying.
According to Waddell, 1,168 child care educators are receiving a salary supplement — representing 68% of Texas Rising Star participants in the county.
After the six months is up, Waddell said, providers can apply for stabilization grants, allowing them to continue sustaining higher wages for employees.
“We’ve modeled HOW to do the salary supplements and helped employers think through the bells and whistles — and now they can carry this forward with state funding,” Waddell said, adding that over $27 million was made available in the first round of grant funding for Tarrant County providers, and three to four times that amount is expected in the next round of funding.
“The process is pretty simple, and any child care center needing help with their grant application can call Child Care Associates for a business coach to assist them virtually,” she said. “Grants are currently open through the end of May and check turnaround is about a week.”
While recently passed legislation requires all child care providers who receive subsidies to participate in the TRS program, less than 20% of licensed child care providers in Tarrant County were participating in the system as of this summer.
“We believe this initial investment is a critical first step in ensuring young children continue to have access to quality child care,” Waddell said at a luncheon in November.
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 10:13 AM.