8.4 Public-Private Partnerships

Lead Agencies must demonstrate how they encourage partnerships among other public agencies, Tribal organizations, private entities, faith-based organizations, businesses, or organizations that promote business involvement, and/or community-based organizations to leverage existing service delivery (i.e., cooperative agreement among providers to pool resources to pay for shared fixed costs and operation) to leverage existing child care and early education service delivery systems and to increase the supply and quality of child care services for children younger than age 13. 8.4.1 Lead Agency public-private partnerships Identify and describe any public-private partnerships encouraged by the Lead Agency to leverage public and private resources to further the goals of CCDF: The Lead Agency has several partnerships among state agencies, local public agencies, private entities, and community-based organizations to leverage existing service delivery systems and to increase the supply, access and quality of child care services for children through age 12. The following describes those partnerships and outlines the goals of the partnerships. School-Age Quality Program Expansion: The Lead Agency is engaged in several partnerships to increase access to high-quality, school-age child care programs throughout the state. The commitment to increasing access to school-age programs has led to the establishment of programs in vulnerable populations throughout the state, including schools serving a large share of intergenerational poverty children. Entities and the corresponding levels at which the Lead Agency is partnering, include the following: Utah State Board of Education (USBE) (state level); various community-based organizations; Utah Afterschool Network (UAN) (community-based organization); University of Utah Education Policy Center; and various local governments(county/local). The goal of these partnerships is to ensure that school-age children have access to high-quality, school-age programming regardless of the community in which they reside. Examples of the Activities of the partnerships: These partnerships are sharing data across systems to ensure that resources are properly leveraged to the appropriate communities. For example, these different partnerships are currently working together on a state-wide needs assessment to determine gaps in service areas as well as strengths and deficits of current programs. Another example of the activities of the partnership involves providing valuable professional development and technical assistance to school-age providers. Through the partnership with USBE and UAN, the Lead Agency is leveraging existing services to increase the quality of child care providers and create statewide standards regarding the appropriate methods of determining a programs’ quality. Together, these partnerships ensure that school-age providers receive ongoing data support, professional development and receive technical assistance to improve the quality of their school-age programs. Increasing Access to High-Quality Preschool: The Lead Agency is involved in public-private partnership to increase access for economically disadvantaged children to attend high- quality preschool. Entities and the corresponding levels at which the Lead Agency is partnering, include the following: USBE (state level); Granite School District (county/local); United Way of Salt Lake (community-based organization); Goldman-Sachs (private entity);and Pritzker Foundation (private entity). The goal of the partnership is to increase the capacity of high-quality preschool programs throughout Utah, thereby ensuring that economically disadvantaged children have access to high- quality programs that will prepare them for kindergarten. Examples of the Partnership: The Lead Agency and USBE are working together to leverage state funds to provide grants to private child care providers and school districts to implement ten components of a high-quality preschool program, as established in Utah Code. Providers eligible to receive grants through the partnership must be serving economically disadvantaged children. In addition, the Lead Agency is responsible for partnering with a private entity to serve as a Program Intermediary for the state’s preschool Pay for Success program. This will include soliciting private investment resources to fund scholarships for low-income four year olds to attend preschools that are meeting certain outcome measures. Improving Professional Development in Child Care: The Lead Agency is engaged in a public-private partnership to improve the professional development of child care providers. Partner entities include the following: Utah Association for the Education of Young Children (UAEYC) (community- based organization); The Children's Center Utah (non-profit); Utah Private Child Care Association(non-profit); Private Family Child Care Association (non-profit); Utah Registry of Professional Development at Utah State University; Salt Lake City Community College; Utah Education Network; and the Care About Childcare agencies (public institutes of higher education, a local government agency and a non-profit). The goal of this partnership is to increase the quality of child care through providing extensive and affordable professional development opportunities to providers. Examples of the partnership include the Early Childhood Conference, which is organized each year by UAEYC. The conference provides an opportunity for child care providers throughout the state to convene and learn best practices in child care, focusing on child development. Similar conferences are conducted in the rural communities served by the CACs in those regions of Utah. Each year, two of the CACs organize and conduct professional development conferences for all types of providers, including Tribal, center, and family providers. The fees are heavily subsidized and continuing education credits are awarded.