Back to childcare initiatives, this time wage subsidies to attract and retain the workforce.
King County, Washington has an umbrella initiative called Best Start for Kids, and they are currently accepting applications for organizations that will receive grants to subsidize childcare workers’ wages. This is a pilot program, and unlike many of the programs financed by COVID funds in the past few years, the Best Start programs are funded through a taxpayer approved levy which was first passed in 2016 and renewed for another six years in 2021.
Research conducted by the Inclusive Development Lab at the Yale School of Management was part of the program design and provided recommendations for evaluation of the program as it is implemented. Here is a link to the research summary
Here’s what I’m pretty sure of – the pilot probably won’t be perfect AND it will be much better than continuing to just fall in love with the problem
You can find the grant program description here.
Oh, BTW, this month marks FIVE YEARS of monthly A Place I’ll Remember posts – just thought I would put that out there!