Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Thinking About Job Creation? Look Close to Home

  • Health
  • by Jessica Sager, Janna Wagner and Shannon Hill
  • November 29, 2011
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

We are delighted that the Connecticut legislature and Governor Malloy have approved a $1.1 billion jobs bill that will foster economic growth and job creation. We are especially pleased that the jobs bill focuses on small businesses, and includes money for loans and tax credits for new hires and job training.

While for many, however, “small business” invokes images of local retailers, we want to emphasize the importance of investing in one of our society’s most undervalued and invisible small businesses – family child care.

Investing in family child care providers is critical in these times of economic crisis, not just because family child care providers care for the majority of our most vulnerable infants and toddlers, but because investing in them has the potential to boost the state economy. A recent study conducted by the University of Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis confirms that for every $1 spent on All Our Kin’s New Haven-based family child care training program, there is a $15-$20 return to the New Haven region in terms of gross regional product (GRP).

The program trains family child care providers, of whom 98 percent are women, helping them become licensed and empowering them with the resources and training they need to run a successful small business and high-quality child care. The study demonstrates 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.

* By increasing the availability of flexible, affordable, high-quality child care, the program also enables more low-income parents to work; the study estimates that for every child care provider licensed through the program, four to five parents entered the work force.

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) – for New Haven alone. We plan to replicate the program throughout the state, and hope that the results of the study encourage others to invest in family child care providers.

In doing so, Connecticut can build upon a proven community development model that improves the state economy, ensures that child care professionals succeed as business owners and gives low-income parents the support they need to work.

It also provides our children, the work force of tomorrow, with the educational foundation they need to succeed in school and beyond. Children in high-quality early childhood education programs are less likely to be held back, drop out of school, go on welfare, or commit crime. According to studies, every dollar invested in early childhood education today saves the public eight dollars later.

When that figure is combined with the immediate economic impact, it is easy to see that investing in our children, and those who teach and care for them, is the best of investments: the social benefits are enormous and the economic return rate is high – both today and for years to come.


Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jessica Sager, Janna Wagner and Shannon Hill

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
A little-known technical bill could be the key to more money for core programs
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Appropriations Committee leaders have a new strategy to more pump state dollars into education, social services and health care.

Auditors: UConn Hartford campus construction cost $30M more than budgeted
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Construction and renovations combined originally were priced at $87 million. Final cost: $116.7 million.

CT to start collecting family-leave tax from its workers next week
by Keith M. Phaneuf

The state will begin deducting the new tax to support family and medical leave benefits from non-union employees this month.

Can independent primary care doctors survive dominance of hospital health systems?
by Peggy McCarthy | C-HIT.ORG

hospital systems and private businesses are increasingly buying private medical practices and taking over their business operations.

CT continues to get high marks for improved fiscal management
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Connecticut received high marks from a nationally recognized think-tank for its huge reserves, its fiscal planning and its budget transparency.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion SB 1018: Connecticut’s effort to increase prosecutorial accountability and why it will not work
by Olivia Louthen

Senate Bill 1018 does not solve Connecticut’s largest criminal justice problem: outcomes for crime victims and defendants vary based on zip codes because judicial districts operate independently of one another.

Opinion Debunking the CBIA’s takedown of the public option healthcare bill
by Bill Shortell

I am writing to those struggling to defend the public option healthcare plan, under the burden of a mass of disinformation put out by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA). The latest version of the Public Option (SB 842) will offer a state-run healthcare package to small businesses, individuals, and not-for-profits.

Opinion A crisis and complaint about Anthem mental healthcare coverage
by Rebecca Burton, Rebecca Toner, Jorge Fernandez, Emily Stagg and Carrissa Phipps

We write on behalf of the Mental Health Clinicians Action Network of Connecticut (MHCAN-CT), a multidisciplinary group of mental health professionals aiming to improve access to mental health care by bridging the gaps between clients, clinicians in private practice, legislators, governing bodies, and insurance companies. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been advocating for permanent pay parity for telehealth services as well as more power to hold insurance companies accountable for meeting the standard of care.

Opinion Ensure that undocumented individuals have access to COVID-19 vaccine
by Moe Uddin

Now that the COVID-19 vaccine is available for all Connecticut residents over the age of 16 years, we must ensure equal access to the vaccine for all community members, especially vulnerable populations. In Connecticut, one such population that deserves our attention and support are our migrant farmworkers.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO