Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
34429114
label
Remarks
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
34429114
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Remarks
citationUrl
collections
Records of the First Lady's Office (Clinton Administration)
Jennifer Klein's Files
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
34429114
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
otherTitles
42-t-7422560-20140536S-044-006-2016
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
3e23790e99b35a12
ocrText
OCT-21-1997 17:11
FERN TIGER ASSOCIATES
510 763 8368
P.01
4 pages
California
Child Care
Resource
&
Referral
Network
To:
Noa Meyer
From: Fem Tiger for Patty Siegel
Date: October 21, 1997
Following is Patty Siegel's outline for the Panel Presentation of October 23rd. If you have any
problems receiving this fax please contact me directly at (510)763-3867.
111 New Montgomery Street, 7th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 882-0234 Fax: (415) 882-6233
OCT-21-1997 17:11
FERN TIGER ASSOCIATES
510 763 8368
P.02
California
Child Care
Resource
Referral
Network
Outline: Panel Presentation / October 23, 1997: White House Conference on Child Care
1.
Thank you, Mr. President and Mrs. Clinton etc.
2.
Brief introduction to the world of R&R from the front lines of child care which are really
the phone lines at the more than 600 resource and referral agencies across the country
where thousands of counselors talk daily with more than one and a half million parents
looking for child care and where resource and referral staff provided training to nearly
350,000 child care providers in the past year
Child Care R&Rs have 4 important responsibilities:
The heart of our work is to help families find and choose the child care that best
meets their particular and unique needs;
In order to make these connections we have to identify and track the supply of all
licensed child care in our communities;
And because that supply is often unavailable OT inadequate we work to build and
sustain the supply to ensure that good, safe, quality care is available for parents when
they need it, where they need it, and at prices they can afford;
And to inform the broad community about the importance of good child care and
how it impacts the world of work, education, health care, and family life
As you can imagine these are difficult tasks and responsibilities that we take very seriously
3.
What we hear on these phone lines from providers in centers, in family child care homes,
in schools is
Enormous frustration
Child care isn't working
it's not available;
it's not affordable;
and., it's not as good as it should be
4.
Let me first tell you what we hear from parents (my emphasis is California where more than
10% of all of the children of America live but the stories are similar across the country...)
The frustration is at all income levels; (I'll focus on where majority of calls come
from - from new parents with babies.. very young children under 2)
111 New Montgomery Street, 7th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 882-0234 Fax: (415) 882-6233
OCT-21-1997 17:12
FERN TIGER ASSOCIATES
510 763 8368
P.03
Consider the stress of a parent about to re-enter the workplace It's a stressful
transition but that stress is amplified by the reality of just how difficult it is to find
child care for that baby.
And that reality is that 2/3 of all child care in California is in centers and only 4% of
center spaces are for babies and children under two;
If you ever wanted to create an instant community just bring together a sampling
of parents like the ones I've spoken to during the past 24 hours as I traveled from
California to D.C. the stories they've shared a flight attendant, a waitress at the
conference center, a taxidriver, and an engineer who commiserated with mc as we
shared seats on the five hour flight these parents from across all income levels are
instantly united in a great family of concern as they face the daunting challenge of
finding quality care for their babies and children.
Each in this small sampling makes incredible sacrifices and amazingly complicated
arrangements in order to hold a job and raise their children.
5.
Imagine the plight of the flight attendant when her work schedule rotates and she needs care
for her child through the night, or when her flight is delayed and she unexpectedly needs
extended emergency care. Imagine the dilemma of the waitress whose salary barcly exceeds
minimum wage a salary of about $11,000 and whose workday begins at 11 a.m. and ends
after 7 p.m Imagine how much more complex the plight of the engineer would be if his
2-year-old happened to be blind or deaf or have cerebral palsy. Imagine how any of these
added issues would impact your need for child care and the range of options available
But I have to tell you it's not just the capacity challenge that worries parents. Everyday we
hear from parents who know what they want and what's good for their children. They want
care givers who know and understand how children grow and learn and caregivers who can
provide a stimulating, safe and nurturing environment. But because our child care system
in this country has been patched together without the forethought and mindfulness that
today's conference begins to generate, good child care with health and safety protections,
trained staff and stimulating environments, is hard to find.
But of all of the frustrations parents face, the inability to find care that is affordable
is the most daunting and most frightening because this impacts a parent's ability
to join the workforce And for those earning minimum wage and those who have
struggled to maintain economic independence in low wage positions, the choices are
few
Sadly, the choices of these families are dictated too often by what they can afford, not
by what's best for their children.
Consider the facts: a single mother in California, working full time at minimum wage
will need to use 68% of her income for child care in a licensed center If she
qualifies for state or federal child care assistance in California and many other states
the waiting list could take more than 2 years
6.
But the frustrations are not only from parents Providers are barely able to make ends meet
on their salaries which average less than $7/hour (making it near impossible to afford care
OCT-21-1997 17:12
FERN TIGER ASSOCIATES
510 763 8368
P.04
themselves...) Most providers have no benefits; they don't get paid vacations and they don't
get sick leave
7.
Still good providers can't afford to remain in these jobs if this room was filled today with
teachers, child care providers, and center directors and we reconvened this meeting one year
from now, half of the room would be empty.
This workforce of dedicated individuals love their jobs; eager for training
committed to children but they cannot afford to keep these low-paying jobs
Challenge is not just how to create quality care that is affordable the challenge is
also to find resources to pay for the people to do this job and to honor them as doing
important work that supports families, children, and the businesses of America
8.
Closing
In the facc of these formidable challenges today's conference is a welcome beginning We
who are on the front lines of the crisis, applaud you for hearing the issue and for making it
a
priority And we arc anxious to report back to the parents and providers who we connect
to about the progress and hope from today's new beginnings for improving child care in
America.
As we bring this critical issue for families to the forefront of national attention, I urge you
to remember that the problem is all around us.. but it's often private, unknown, and unseen
(Close with patchwork quilt metaphor and the need to create an infrastructure and
expanded resources for delivering quality child care services)
TOTAL P.04
YMCA OF THE USA
2028359030
10/22 '97 22:22 NO. 481 01
Fax Cover Sheet
Y
YMCA
Date
We build strong kids,
Number of pages including this one
strong families. strong communities
Please deliver to
Jennifer Klein
Company
Did You Know
Fax
That in 1996, YMCAs served
From
7.3 million kids? That the most
KCarline
popular children's program was
Direct telephone number
day camp for youth, with 78.9
percent of Ys offering it?
YMCA of the USA
That activity programs for
Public Policy
families grew 6.7 percent
1701 K Street, N.W., Suite 903
between 1995 and 1996? That
Washington, D.C. 20006
872 Ys offer Family Night or
800-932-9622/ 202-835-9043
Family Day?
Fax 202-835-9030
That YMCA World Fellows
Message
This is the
have served or are currently
serving in 16 countries around
basic New
the world? That they spend up
to two years at Ys overseas,
direction
learning new skills in
community development and
youth work to take back to their
U.S. Ys?
YMCA OF THE USA
2028359030
10/22 '97 22:22 NO. 481 02
TO: Jennifer Klein
Noa Meyer
FROM: Kathyn Carliner
DATE! October aa, 1997
RE! Revised Remains
Here's the revised version. I can
be reached tonight at (202) 483-2000,
otherwise, I will arrive at The
white House at 8:45a.m.
# # #
my name is 00 Kathiyn Carliner.
Since my husband, Jesse, and I had
theee the first years of ago, our one two issue hang sone
become central in our lives
and
that is the need to find absolutely
children on those days when we
the hig hest quality care for our
cannot be with them ourselves.
It isn't easy.
YMCA OF THE USA
2028359030
10/22 '97 22:22 NO. 481 03
- -2- -
I spent the bulk of my pregnancy
and too much of my maternety
informed decision about who would
leave desperately trying to make an
take care of my son. I met with
Frustration every step of the way.
What I found was a total lack of
organized or reliable information
and no one to guide me on what
was the single most important decisia
in my life
...
and certainly for the
life of my Newborn Son.
We decided we wanted to use a
childcare center, only to discover an
appalling lack of options that
would meet our most basic criteria
of affordability, proximity, and
expended hours Dallow to
correct Dexible
to
YMCA OF THE USA
2028359030
10/22 '97 22:23 NO. 481 04
in in hearts,
)
-3-
And, that wasn't even the critena
that mattered.
what mattered, ultimately, was
knew our son would not only be
finding a place where we
taken care of
but where he
would be nurtured
where he
would be stimulated
and
where he would be Loved. ill
Happily, we found that, and more,
in a childcare center just
minutes from our house. It's a
place that has become, on us,
an extension of our home
and, like so many people today
with no relatives nearby, a
very real and vital extension
of our family.
YMCA OF THE USA
2028359030
10/22 '97 22:23 NO.481 05
-4-
Someone asked me recently how
you can leave a three or
four- month infant at a
childcaredayse center.
now
SO
Well, I've done it twice, and I
know that there LO only one
child answer. you can leave your
and you can go to
work
only when you know
myse that that the person
who takes him out of your
not him only take good care of
arms every morning will
but will enrich him
will Love him
and Keep him
very, very safe from harm.
arierwhelm
Gear that I found that challenge
ing
finding that quality of care
today I the 100 high for
needle Ra a Chaystack And
-10
YMCA OF THE USA
2028359030
10/22 '97 22:23 NO. 481 06
-5-
impatanting
that this conference 8 taking an
this need not just for us,,,
forward in meeting
but for the millions and
millions of working parents who
make up this country today.
It is, therefore, an incredible honor
for me to introduce the person
whose Sensitivity to the needs of
working Parents and families
has made this Conference a
reality The President of The
United States of America.
# # #
10/19/1997 23:41
9143595143
GALINSKY
PAGE 01
202. 456. 9412
MEMORANDUM
TO
Joan, Jenn and Nicole
FROM
Ellen Galinsky
RE
The first draft of my comments
DATE
October 19, 1997
Here is my first draft. I know it is too long, but I hope it captures what you want: links to
brain development research, information on how we measure quality, what good, mediocre
and poor quality look like, and how quality can be improved. I have tried to keep the tone
"researchy" but "photographic," as you suggested.
I am taking my computer to California so I welcome feedback. Let me know what you
think I should cut, change, add, etc.
Thanks for all of your help.
can you send this ner to Joan
Lombardi - ( can't fet through
to her pax. Thank
10/19/1997 23:41
9143595143
GALINSKY
PAGE 02
White House Conference on Child Care
Ellen Galinsky
Last April, at The White House Conference on Early Learning, this country heard, many
people for the first time, about the recent research on the brain development of young
children and learned that
The development of the child's brain-following birth-is far more
rapid and more extensive than previously believed possible. At birth, the
newborn's brain is about a quarter of it adult weight, but it is not simply a small
brain, otherwise complete except for its size. The parts of the brain that handle
thinking and feeling and relating to others are yet to be developed.
The brain at birth has about 100 billion brain cells-or neurons-with 50
trillion connections among them. By the time a child is three, there will be a
twentyfold increase in the number of synaptic connections among brain cells,
numbering about 1000 trillion.
We learned that early experience, in an elaborate dance between
nature and nurture, affects the way the brain is wired. The experiences
that the young child has, the sound she hears, the sights she sees, the
sensations she feels, the things she tastes all will create the synaptic
connections, affecting the way the child's brain is wired.
We learned that the brain operates on a use it or loose it principle. In
the 1970s, Peter Huttenlocher from the University of Chicago counted the
synapses in the frontal cortex of the brain, finding that children's brains have
many more than you and me, as adults. After the first decade of life, however,
the number of connections begins to decline. By the time the child enters the
teenage years, about half of the synapses have been "pruned," or discarded with
about 500 trillion remaining. This number stays relatively constant throughout
life.
The brain connections that have been reinforced by repeated experience tend to
remain while those that are not are discarded. Thus, a child's early
experience-whether it is positive or whether it is negative- help shape his
brain, affecting to some degree how he thinks, feels, and relates to others
throughout his life.
Finally, we learned that the early care children receives has a
decisive, long lasting impact on how they develop, their ability to learn,
and their capacity to regulate their own emotions. Very young children
experience the world through the relationships they have with the important
caregivers in their lives.
Scientist have even determined two of the aspects of relationships that are most
important to young children's development: warm and responsive care.
Brain research helps us understand the "why" behind this finding. Myron A.
Hofer from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons has
1
10/19/1997
23:41
9143595143
GALINSKY
PAGE 03
found that the interactions between the baby and his or her caregiver regulate
many of the baby's biological systems such as sleep, body temperature,
hunger, arousal and sleep.
The power of this give and take between caregiver and child can be made very
visible in the studies in which there is a camera filming the infant and a camera
filming the caregiver. Researchers such as Ed Tronick at Harvard University
have mapped out in moment by moment detail the patterns of the caregiver/child
interaction. These researchers have noted that there is a back and forth
exchange that pediatrician Berry Brazelton likens to a dance or what
developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner call a ping pong game. The
intensity mounts and then the child will look away, calming down, before re-
engaging. During these studies, the caregiver may be told by the experimenter
to freeze, to stop responding; then the infant does everything she or he can to
get the caregiver's attention. When these bids fail, the baby will often get
upset, flail around, and cry. When the caregiver is told to begin responding to
the child, the baby calms down. Inside the brain, the stress-response system is
turned off. Of course, this does not mean that caregivers have to be "on" and
responding every minute, but these studies do show that it is in the everyday
moments-in the daily interactions with nurturing caregivers that babies begin
to develop the network of brain cells that help them learn to regulate and calm
themselves.
Megan Gunnar from the University of Minnesota has looked at the impact of
such interactions on the production of the stress hormone cortisol. She has
found that by the end of the first year, those children who have received
consistent, warm and responsive care from their caregivers produce less
cortisol. If they do become upset, they can turn off their stress reaction more
quickly than children who have not received this kind of care. Thus, these
children will be able to respond better when they face the inevitable difficulties
of life.
What are the implication of research on brain development for child care?
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were 21 million children
under the age of six in the United States in 1995. More than 12.9 million of these
children-61 percent- were in child care.
Children in child care need what they need in their families. They need
warm and responsive care?
Several years ago, the Families and Work Institute in collaboration with Carollee Howes at
UCLA, Susan Kontos at Purdue University, and Marybeth Shinn at New York University
conducted a study of family child care and relative care. When we analyzed all the ways
that quality-as we measured it-affected children's development, we found that warm
and responsive care was central. Two other multi-site studies of center-based setting
reveal the same thing. Although family life and child care are different and families are
first and foremost in children's lives, children need warm and responsive care at home
and in child care.
Interestingly enough, when we asked parents what was most important to them in child
care, parents mentioned the same characteristics. They want their children to be safe.
2
10/19/1997 23:41
9143595143
GALINSKY
PAGE 04
They want their children to be with people who care about them-that is are warm. They
want their children to get enough attention, in other words are responsive. And they want
caregivers who communicate what is happening to the child during the time the parent and
the child are apart.
What does warm and responsive care mean?
When one thinks of "child care quality," or even "warm and responsive" care, these
concepts may seem soft and fuzzy and not measurable. Not SO. We can observe and
quantify these characteristics in valid and reliable ways in the studies we do.
Warm care means being caring. It means expressing joy in who the child is and helping the
child feel safe and secure.
Responsive care is a complex concept that encompasses emotional, social, and intellectual
development. Emotionally, it may mean comforting a child who is hurt. Socially, it may
mean teaching toddlers who bang each other on the head because they both want the same
toy that there are other ways to negotiate over a toy. And intellectually, it may mean
responding to the baby who points to a ball, by using words: "Do you want the ball?"
because we have learned from the brain development research that children learn about
language long before they are capable of talking. And when the preschooler gets excited
about trucks, the child care provider pulls out a book about trucks to read with the child or
writes down what the child says about trucks. In a very real sense, responsive care is early
education. It is during the preschool years that the foundations of school readiness and
school success are laid.
What does good quality child care look like?
How can families know? Parents can watch the ways teachers behave with children. Are
they warm and caring? Do they seem to know what is going on with the child? A parent
can ask a child care provider to describe another child she has cared for. If the provider
uses pejorative and negative words about that child, chances are the provider will have
negative feelings about the parents' child as well.
Parents can tell if the provider is responsive. If they look at a child care classroom, the
children should all be busy-exploring. using materials, talking in pleasant voices with
each other. If they all run over to the visitor, they are probably bored and the setting is not
stimulating enough.
Which child care providers or programs are most likely to provide good quality of
care?
Studies have found that it is not the name on the door (preschool/ child care/family child
care) that is most important. The range of quality is very similar in all these arrangements.
Our studies and others have, however, uncovered the characteristics associated with
higher-quality education and care. They found that children in center-based arrangements
fare better emotionally, socially, and cognitively when they are in arrangements that have:
a sufficient number of adults for each child and smaller group sizes so children
receive individual attention;
3
PAGE 05
10/19/1997
23:41
9143595143
GALINSKY
child care providers who continue to learn about children and their development;
low staff turnover-which is affected by how much staff are paid-so that children
can form stable relationships.
In care that takes places in the home of the provider-what we call family child care and
relative care, children fare better when their providers, among other characteristics:
are committed to taking care of children and are doing so from a sense that this
work is important and it is what they want to be doing;
seek out opportunities to learn about children's development and child care;
think ahead about what the children are going to do and plan experiences for them;
and
seek out the company of others who are providing care and are more involved with
other providers.
We call this "intentional" care because these providers are intentional about their work.
What have studies found about the quality of care and early education in this
country?
Three multi-site observational studies of both center care (in school-based programs, Head
Start programs, and child care centers) and family child care conducted between 1988 and
1994 reveal an uneven picture of quality.
As has been said, these studies indicate that 12 to 14 percent of the children are in
arrangements that promote their growth and learning while 12 to 21 percent are in
arrangements that are unsafe and harmful to their development. For infants and toddlers,
the proportion in unsafe settings is even higher: 35 to 40 percent.
What does unsafe child care look like? What does mediocre care look like?
In our research, we have seen many children in unsafe settings. We have seen providers
not paying any attention to children. We have seen dangerous objects within children's
reach. We have seen children spend their days in cribs and playpens.
We have also seen children in mediocre care. We have seen children running around, from
the front of the couch to the back of the couch in home based settings, wandering aimlessly
in classrooms, with little to do or to learn.
Can quality be improved?
Not only can quality be reliably measured, it can be improved.
A study of community-based family child care training in three sites conducted by the
Families and Work Institute and its colleagues revealed that the children were more likely to
4
PAGE 06
10/19/1997 23:41
9143595143
GALINSKY
behave as if they felt more safe and secure with their providers following training, and the
quality of the caregiving environments had also improved. This initiative was funded by
business.
In another study conducted by the Families and Work Institute and its colleagues where the
state had legislated improved ratios and higher educational requirements for staff, the
changes in children's development were impressive: they behaved as if they felt more safe
and secure with their teachers, exhibited better cognitive and social development, were
more proficient with language, and even had fewer behavior problems.
New insight into the brain development of young children reveals that we know what it
takes to promote the healthy development of young children in child care and early
education settings. The question is: Will we act on this knowledge? That, of course, is
the purpose of this historic conference.
5
10/21/97 TUE 20:38 FAX 202 458 6244
OFC OF THE FIRST LADY
001
CCT-21-1997 17:11
FERN TIGER ASSOCIATES
510 763 8368 F.01
4 pages
California
Child Care
Resource
&
Referral
Network
To:
Noa Meyer
From: Fern Tiger for Patty Siegel
Date: October 21, 1997
Following is Patty Siegel's outline for the Panel Presentation of October 23rd. If you have any
problems receiving this fax please contact me directly at (510)763-3867.
111 New Montgomery Street, 7th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 882-0234 Fax: (415) 882-6233
10/21/97 TUE 20:35 FAX 202 456 6244
OFC OF THE FIRST LADY
002
OCT-21-1957 17:11
FERN TIGER ASSOCIATES
512 763 8368 P.02
California
Child Care
Resource
&
Referral
Network
Outline: Panel Presentation / October 23, 1997: White House Conference on Child Care
1.
Thank you, Mr. President and Mrs. Clinton etc.
2.
Brief introduction to the world of R&R from the front lines of child care which are really
the phone lines at the more than 600 resource and referral agencies across the country
where thousands of counselors talk daily with more than one and a half million parents
looking for child care and where resource and referral staff provided training to nearly
350,000 child care providers in the past year
Child Care R&Rs have 4 important responsibilities:
The heart of our work is to help families find and choose the child care that best
meets their particular and unique needs;
In order to make these connections we have to identify and track the supply of all
licensed child care in our communities;
And because that supply is often unavailable or inadequate We work to build and
sustain the supply to ensure that good, safe, quality care is available for parents when
they need it, where they need it, and at prices they can afford;
And to inform the broad community about the importance of good child care and
how it impacts the world of work, education, health care, and family life
As you can imagine these are difficult tasks and responsibilities that we take very seriously
3.
What we hear on these phone lines from providers in centers, in family child care homes,
in schools is
Enormous frustration
Child care isn't working
it's not available;
it's not affordable;
and., it's not as good as it should be
4.
Let me first tell you what we hear from parents (my emphasis is California where more than
10% of all of the children of America live but the stories are similar across the country...)
The frustration is at all income levels; (I'll focus on where majority of calls come
from - from new parents with babies.. very young children under 2)
111 New Montgomery Street, 7th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 882-0234 Fax: (415) 882-6233
10/21/97 TUE 20:39 FAI 202 456 0244
OFC OF THE FIRST LADY
003
OCT-21-1997 17:12
FERN TIGER ASSOCIATES
510 763 8368
P.03
Consider the stress of a parent about to re-enter the workplace It's a stressful
transition but that stress is amplified by the reality of just how difficult it is to find
child care for that baby.
And that reality is that 2/3 of all child care in California is in centers and only 4% of
center spaces are for babies and children under two;
If you ever wanted to create an instant community just bring together a sampling
of parents like the ones I've spoken to during the past 24 hours as I traveled from
California to D.C. the stories they've shared a flight attendant, a waitress at the
conference center, 3 taxidriver, and an engineer who commiserated with mc as we
shared seals on the five hour flight these parents from across all income levels are
instantly united in a great family of concern as they face the daunting challenge of
finding quality care for their babies and children.
Each in this small sampling makes incredible sacrifices and amazingly complicated
arrangements in order to hold a job and raise their children.
5.
Imagine the plight of the flight attendant when her work schedule rotates and she needs care
for her child through the night, or when her flight is delayed and she unexpectedly needs
extended emergency care. Imagine the dilemma of the waitress whose salary barely exceeds
minimum wage a salary of about $11,000 and whose workday begins at 11 a.m. and ends
after 7 p.m Imagine how much more complex the plight of the engineer would be if his
2-year-old happened to be blind or deaf or have cerebral palsy. Imagine how any of these
added issues would impact your need for child care and the range of options available
But I have to tell you it's not just the capacity challenge that worries parents. Everyday we
hear from parents who know what they want and what's good for their children. They want
care givers who know and understand how children grow and learn and caregivers who can
provide a stimulating, safe and nurturing environment. But because our child care system
in this country has been patched together without the forethought and mindfulness that
today's conference begins to generate. good child care with health and safety protections
trained staff and stimulating environments, is hard to find.
But of all of the frustrations parents face. the inability to find care that is affordable
is the most daunting and most frightening because this impacts a parent's ability
to join the workforce And for those earning minimum wage and those who have
struggled to maintain economic independence in low wage positions, the choices are
few
Sadly, the choices of these families are dictated too often by what they can afford, not
by what's best for their children.
Consider the facts: a single mother in California, working full time at minimum wage
will need to use 68% of her income for child care in a licensed center. If she
qualifies for state or federal child care assistance in California and many other states
the waiting list could take more than 2 years
6.
But the frustrations are not only from parents Providers are harely able to make ends meet
on their salaries which average less than $7/hour (making it near impossible to afford care
10/21/97 TUE 20:39 FAX 202 456 6244
OFC OF THE FIRST LADY
004
OCT-21-1997 17:12
FERN TIGER ASSOCIATES
510 763 8368
P.04
themselves ) Most providers have no benefits; they don't get paid vacations and they don't
get sick leave
7.
Still good providers can't afford to remain in these jobs if this room was filled today with
teachers. child care providers, and center directors and we reconvened this meeting one year
from now, half of the room would be empty.
This workforce of dedicated individuals love their jobs: eager for training
committed to children but they cannot afford to keep these low-paying jobs
Challenge is not just how to create quality care that is affordable the challenge is
also to find resources 10 pay for the people to do this job and to honor them as doing
important work that supports families, children, and the businesses of America
8.
Closing
In the face of these formidable challenges today's conference is a welcome beginning We
who are on the front lines of the crisis, applaud you for hearing the issue and for making it
a priority And we are anxious to report back to the parents and providers who we connect
to about the progress and hope from today's new beginnings for improving child care in
America.
As we bring this critical issue for families to the forefront of national attention, I urge you
to remember that the problem is all around us but it's often private, unknown, and unseen
(Close with patchwork quilt metaphor and the need to create an infrastructure and
expanded resources for delivering quality child care services)
TOTAL P.04
64243J3735G7M6 TIONS
6174979331
P.01
Och 20,1997 October 21,1997
FAX 202-456-9412
To : Jennifer Klein
Fr: Mickey Seligson 617.497.9331
Jennifer -
Here's the latest version of my talk -I've
tried to cover ace the bases. LeL
me hear from you today
tonight I'll be at herve
day.
Thanks
Jlicky
P.S. Here's the latest version Call me
this evening if you still want MS to g. over it.
64243J3735G7M6"TIONS
6174979331
P.02
10-21-97
White House Child Care Conference panel presentation
Opening
President and Mrs. Clinton, I want to thank you both for the honor of asking
me to participate in this conference. It is tremendously exciting to know that
you are not only interested in this vital issue, but that you want to help.
I first got involved in school-age child care more than twenty-five years ago
when I needed after school care for my own children, Sally and Jon. I was
lucky to connect with other parents and we started a parent coop center with
a small after school program. In that same community of Brookline, Mass I
then helped other groups of parents start extended day programs in all the
elementary schools, in partnership with the Brookline school committee
which provided rent free space so that low-income parents could afford the
care. Two tiny articles in the Ladies Home Journal and McCalls magazine
brought me 2,000 letters from parents and schools and public and private
agencies. I still remember one letter from a mother who drew a map showing
me how many big streets her daughter had to cross, the location of a scary
field, the number of blocks between school and home.
Is this a problem? What are the dimensions? Where do children go after
school?
Many adults over the age of thirty remember out-of-school time as time to
play with friends, explore the neighborhood, play records, ride bikes, and
above all, eat! Someone's mother or relative was home but mostly invisible.
People remember feeling safe. Things are different now. Kids don't speak
about feeling safe in their neighborhoods, or even at home. 25 million
children in America have working parents, many of whom work full-time
once their kids reach school. Children spend less than 20 percent of their
waking hours in school. Risks to health and even life are now common
among young children. Unsupervised children are at significantly higher
risk of truancy from school, stress, receiving poor grades, risk-taking
behavior and substance abuse either participating in crime or being
Break
victimized (Dwyer et al, (1990); Marshall et al (1997); National Center on
out
Juvenile Justice, 1997)
64243J3735G7M6 TIONS
6174979331
P.03
-2-
Children spend more of their out-of-school time watching television than any
other single activity, and we know the impact of that on kids-kids read less,
play less, and are more aggressive. On average, American children spend 40
hours a week watching television and playing video games, more hours than
they spend in school, and children in low-income households are estimated to
spend 50 percent more time watching television than their privileged peers.
Our best estimates tell us at least at least 5 million children between 5 and 14
spend too much time on their own during a typical week.
The 1990 National Child Care Study breaks down percentages of after school
arrangements-and concludes that while there are a lot of kids who go home
to relatives, to child care centers, to family day care homes, it's pretty clear
when kids pour out of school buildings at 2 or 3 p.m. they don't all head for
the local Y A lot of kids go to malls, to fast food restaurants, to each others
houses where there may or may not be an adult present to supervise.
Parents tell their younger children to go straight home from school, to lock
the door, and how to answer the phone SO no-one knows they are alone-all
good ideas to keep kids safe. But many kids are glued to the t.v. during this
time, and often experience loneliness in this kind of social isolation.
What does research have to say about what makes for healthy kids who feel
good about themselves and others, and who are competent in school? The
key studies point to two factors: caring relationships and constructive
activities.
One evaluation of after-school programs (Vandell) finds that the single most
important factor is the quality of children's interactions with the program
staff. Kids do better in school, are more self assured-if they attend carefully
planned programs with plenty of choices where the primary work of the
adults is caring about and for the kids. Jerome Bruner has written
compellingly that what helps kids learn is the nature of their relationships,
our capacity to listen and to hear their stories. We develop a sense of self not
in a vacuum but in relation to others.
64243J3735G7M6"TIONS
6174979331
P.04
The Cooperative Extension Service (Riley, et al, 1994) studied the effects of
64 such programs in 15 states, and found that principals and teachers
reported their students as doing better academically, behaving more
cooperatively, handling conflicts better, showing increased interest in
reading, and becoming less involved in vandalism.
Informal learning environments offer the chance to try to learn something
you don't know how to do-physical or artistic or intellectual-in a safe place
where you don't pass or fail. Good after school programs make that
possible. As do adult staff who understand the age group, who are
comfortable in a relaxed setting that is different from school, who use their
unique talents and personalities and their capacity to engage the children.
What is being done? How are communities dealing with this issue?
Today there are a few more resources in a few communities for parents to
get help finding care. There is a national network of child care resource and
referral agencies. There has been generous funding from the American
Business Collaboration that has helped to develop more programs and
improve quality. Some states have enacted enabling legislation so schools
can partner with community agencies, others have financed training and new
programs. After-school programs exist in schools, in churches, in parks and
recreation centers, in youth-serving agencies, child care centers and in family
day care homes.
Building collaborations is an effective way to stimulate development of the
supply of services, make inroads in improving quality, and leverage both
dollars and facilities. This kind of partnering is working well in Boston,
Chicago, and Seattle, through a privately funded initiative of the Dewitt
Wallace Readers Digest Fund, called MOST (Making the Most of Out-of-
School Time). In Chicago a new partnership with the city's Park District is
creating new school-age child care spaces for several thousand children; in
Boston, Parents United for Child Care has leveraged hundreds of thousands
of dollars from the private and public sector to support low-income families'
school-age child care; in Seattle anyone can go to a public library or eighty-
eight other community access points to log on free to the data base and get
information about 300 out-of-school time programs like art centers, sports
and recreation, tutorial services.
64243J3735G7M6" TIONS
6174979331
P.05
-4-
But there are some big problems.
This is not just about some working families needing after school child care.
This is an issue that cuts across all income groups, including families
preparing to enter the out-of-home work force. Every family that on this very
day is managing the work and family and school and child care whirlwind
knows what I mean. Yet some Americans are more in need of help with
school-age child care than others. Some don't have the resources to pay for
lessons, after school sports, academic programs, summer camps. Some kids
don't get the same exposure to ideas, skills, positive relationships with adults
and their peers.
The National Before and After School Program Study clearly shows this
discrepancy-83 percent of approximately 50,000 school-age child care
programs depend on parent fees for their survival. Many families simply
can't pay. We know very little about how immigrant and refugee families
manage their children's out-of-school time.
We've got much further to go. Programs could serve more children right
now with funding targeted for a spectrum of low income families.
While there is widespread agreement on standards of quality established by
the field, and a new accreditation system of the national professional
organization, NSACA, quality is uneven at best. Parents have the right to
expect certain quality standards such as ratios and staff qualifications.
It is more and more difficult to recruit qualified school-age child care staff.
Salaries are low and turnover is high, and people move on quickly to better
paying work.
Programs often pass along to parents the cost of having to lease school
facilities and pay for custodial services. There is a huge transportation
problem-who should pay to bus children from school to after school
program? Parents? The school district?
Some school boards have welcomed partnerships with community-based
organizations, or are running their own programs; others resist them.
64243J3735G7M6"TIONS
6174979331
P.06
Rural areas have special issues such as the distance program participants
must travel. And many children with special needs don't have access to the
existing system because of inadequate staff training. One group of children-
middle schoolers-are the least served group and have some of the most
pressing needs.
Conclusion
We know what to do to solve some of these problems. There are three ways
national leadership could help:
1. First, following up on this conference, keep the spotlight on this issue
both inside and outside government.
2. Finance more school-age care for low and moderate income parents,
regardless of their relationship to welfare. School-age care benefits society-
the investment will pay off in terms of producing long-term benefits in
children and especially as a prevention strategy.
3. Fund community level strategies to enable groups to work across
institutions to collaborate on discovering and meeting local needs and
expanding services to meet those needs. An official incentive encourages
people to cross institutional lines, and funding is an additional incentive.
Thank you
DAVID SHIPLEY
10/21/97 11:06:41 AM
Record Type:
Record
To:
Jennifer L. Klein/OPD/EOP, Nicole R. Rabner/WHO/EOP
CC:
Subject:
here's a draft of the column. it's too long and needs a better ending. pls call and then i can send it
off to our client.
thanks
DRAFT 10/22/97
FIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
TALKING IT OVER
OCTOBER 23, 1997
As Bill and I prepared for today's White House Conference on Child Care, we tried to
imagine back to what things were like in our household 20 years ago. If I were writing this
column, for example, not only would the keys on the typewriter be sticky with baby food, there
would probably have been some sort of low-grade child-care catastrophe. Bill might have had to
run off to a meeting in the Capitol. I might have had to try a case in court. The babysitter might
have called in sick. Back then, we basically did what most American parents do just about all the
time: juggle -- and hope for the best. [f.y.i. child care story from book used in earlier column]
And we were lucky. Because we were both employed, because we had flexible schedules,
and because we had the privilege of living in a governor's mansion with a staff for all but two
years of Chelsea's life when she was young, there was something Bill and I did not have to
worry about -- that our daughter was receiving quality child care when we were out of the house.
Unfortunately, that is not the case for most Americans. In the last 4 ½ years, as I have
traveled our country talking to parents, no concern has been more prominent than child care. I
know the questions by heart, for I have heard them in inner cities and leafy suburbs alike: How
can I find quality child care? How can I afford it? Will child care harm my child?
The plain fact is, we have a crisis in child care. There is simply not enough quality care
for children who need it.
Studies support what I have learned firsthand. In a survey released this week by "Parents
Magazine," nearly 75 percent of American families with young children use some form of child
care, and many are unhappy with that care. More than half of these parents worry every week
whether their child is looked after properly. A majority of those surveyed believe child care is
not reliable, that available options are too limited, and that quality is not good enough.
Parents have reason to be concerned. According to research by the Families and Work
Institute, 13 percent of regulated and 50 percent on nonregulated family child care providers
offer care that is inadequate. That means children spend their days with care givers who do not
follow basic sanitary practices; who rarely talk, cuddle or play with them; in rooms that lack toys
and other materials to encourage development; and in places where the ratio of children to adults
is too high for individual attention. A recent University of Colorado at Denver study of child care
in four states found that only one in seven child care centers were rated as good in quality
And quality care, when it is available, is often financially out of reach for parents,
particularly low-income parents. According to the 1995 Census, families earning under $1,200 a
month pay an average of 25 percent of their income for child care. A single mother I met who
works as a secretary said she was able send her child to school only because of a scholarship and
because she had moved back in with her parents. Otherwise, she told me, "I would probably have
to quit my job and go on welfare Who would watch my child during the day?"
The urgency of improving child care in America is heightened by new information about
the intellectual and emotional development of children. As we learned at a White House
Conference on Early Childhood Development in April, what happens to a child in the earliest
years can make a difference in how well a child can learn for a lifetime. Given that 45 percent of
children under age one are in child care on a regular basis, this is an issue of importance not just
for individual children, but also for the future of our nation.
These studies tell us something else: good care, whether that care is given at home or at a
child care center, is, well, good care. While there is no replacing the strong bonds of family,
quality child care is beneficial for children. [want to say something about choice here?]
At today's conference, experts from around the country -- teachers, scientists, policy-
makers, parents and others -- will gather in the East Room to discuss what sort of plan of action
we should take as a nation to raise the quality and expand the accessibility of child care available
to our families.
It is important to remember that whatever solutions come out of the conference will
involve all sectors of the American community. The national government has a role to play, but
only in partnership with state governments, the private sector, school systems, and individual
citizens.
In forging a course, we can look to the models of quality child care around the country.
Earlier this month, I saw two of them. At Quantico Marine Base in Virginia, I learned how the
military has put in place a superb child care system -- with high standards, mandatory training,
and good wages and benefits for the staff. In Florida, I saw how the private sector, working with
government, is expanding child care opportunities. Funds raised by the Florida Child Care
Executive Partnership are matched by the state and then dispersed in grants to communities with
child-care initiatives.
When I asked Quantico's commander and the business leaders from Florida why they
were working to improve child care, their answers were remarkably similar. When parents come
to work confident that their children are well-cared for, they can make a much more positive
contribution. It doesn't matter whether they are Marines or bank tellers.
[need to work on this] A couple of weeks ago, I walked into the Center for Young Children at the
University of Maryland. There I saw something wonderful: a child care center that is warm and
inviting; with workers that are creative, energetic and focused; and a range of books, toys and
crafts materials. It's a place any of us would happily stay for juice of naptime. And it's what
every American child deserves.
10/21/97 03:47
2024562896
THE WHITE HOUSE
OFFICE OF INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
FAX COVER SHEET
To:
Jen
From: Sky 10-21
2
Date:
No. of Pages:
Phone:
Fax: 62878
Phone: 202/456-2896
Fax: 202/456-2889
Message:
the call - I will start it
Hunt Emily will not be on
Followme (S onthne fr , gor
off and leave you with them.
look for my call at 4 - Thanks
10/21/97
03:48
2024562896
FROM
002
10.21.1997 15141
P.2
Governor Jim Hunt
White House Daycare Conference
NGA Report - Helene Stebberg
October 23, 1997
Outline
I.
NC has one of the highest percentage of working mothers in the country and new
research shows that a child's health development is heavily influenced by his or her
experiences in the first years of life. How are we responding to this dual challenge?
A) We must provide affordable, accessible, quality daycare
B) Almost every state is addressing or planning to address the needs of very
young children. Governors are taking the lead and states are addressing these needs
through a diverse array of programs.
11.
How is North Carolina meeting this challenge?
A) Smart Start--a comprehensive public-private inidative--brings everyone to the
table, including community leaders, child care providers, parents, teachers, religious and
business communities. Local communities know what works best for their children and
they know that by improving the opportunities for their youngest citizens they are
investing in the future of their community. Collaboration is the key to Smart Start success
B) Across the country, teachers of our youngest children are undereducated and
paid poorly. That means high turnover rates in child care centers. T.E.A.C.H. addresses
those issues. In the past four years, over 5,000 child care teachers, directors and home
providers have received scholarships to attend state community colleges and universities.
What makes this program is unique is that as teachers are more educated. they receive
raises and bonuses as incentives to stay in the field.
III.
North Carolina has proven that these kind of approaches work. We know that
Smart Start has improved the quality of child care in the first counties where it began by
18 percent. While the average turnover rate in child care centers exceeds 40% annually.
the turnover TRICE for T.E.A.C.H. participants is less than 10% annually.
OCT 21'97 13:38 FR WK KELLOGG FOUNDATION
969 2188 TO 912024566244
P.02/04
WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON CHILD CARE
Valora Washington
"Jumpstarting Change:
The Role of Local Communities
In Assuring Child Care That Works"
I. Introduction
A. Reference to earlier panel on why child care matters.
B. The opportunity/importance of community involvement.
II. The State of Affairs: How Well Are Communities Doing?
some working well/some only beginning,mixed picture
III. Jumpstarting Change: What Works in Communities
some working well/some only beginning, mixed picture.
SUCCESSFUL COMMUNITIES:
A. Get everyone involved
child care professionals, parent and providers
cannot do it alone
EXAMPLES: Kellogg Foundation, Early Childhood Funders
Collaborative with ABC
B. Realize and encourage each sector (business/philanthropy) to add its own
value and strength to the process.
build relationships
value added of various sectors
civic and business leaders
experts in child care
elected officials
parents
others
EXAMPLE: Florida Education Fund
C. Are willing to take a look at themselves
begin with community
assessment/community visioning.
OCT 21'97 13:38 FR WK KELLOGG FOUNDATION
969 2188 TO 912024566244
P.03/04
availability?
access?
cost?
roles?
families are central to communities
everyone creates the communities vision
communities with vision support families
EXAMPLE: Avance, Rio Grand Valley, Texas
D. Develop concrete plans that are comprehensive.
know what you want to achieve
focus on goals - identify critical issues/specific gaps
build on community assets
assess your community's resources - - describe resources, initiatives,
programs needed
cross-community collaboration (human and financial resources that
can be tapped/supplemented)
work for specific indicators of success
EXAMPLE: Battle Creek, Michigan KYIP
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
IV. Jumpstarting Change: A Few Challenges
A. Importance of preserving the child care diversity in communities while
bringing order to chaos and standards that assure child safety and quality.
EXAMPLE: King County, Washington
B. The issue of cost and what this means for access, availability, quality,
compensation. (example of community addressing the cost challenge)
C. Engaging the majority - - the people who don't have children/young children
who feel this issue doesn't concern them.
D. Encouraging personal parental responsibility through recognition of the need
for all families to have broader social support.
E. Need for clearer articulation of outcomes/results that community can
understand and buy into.
F. "We know more than we do" - looking through the eyes of the child.
2
OCT 21'97 13:38 FR WK KELLOGG FOUNDATION
969 2188 TO 912024566244
P.04/04
V. Next Steps: What We Must Ask Ourselves
A. Where are our community values/vision that we want for our children (shared
vision).
B. What are our communities' strengths and gaps in building the caring
community for children? Community closes the gap between quality and what
parents can afford.
C. Do we have the entire community involved?
D. In everything we do:
look through the eyes of the child putting their needs and interests first
do what we know works, focusing on solutions available now
bring more accountability into the system
look at concrete results and outcomes for children
D. Goethe:
"Knowing is not enough;
we must apply
Willing is not enough;
we must do"
\Wkkf05\vok01\SHARED\DEPT\FAMILIESPUBLIC\VMEARLYCHIoudineWHTEHOUSE CONF ON CHILD CARE.doc
3
** TOTAL PAGE. 004 **
10/19/1997 22:58
6106643924
JEROLD ARONSON
PAGE 01
Susan S. Aronson, MD, FAAP
605 Moreno Road
Narberth, PA 19072
phone: 610/664-3923 fax: 610/664-3924
e-mail: [email protected]
Fax
To:
Noa Meyer
From: Susan S. Aronson, MD, FAAP
Fax: 202/458-8244
Pages: 7, including cover
Phone: 202/456-2787
Date: October 19, 1997
Re:
outline of remarks for 10/23/97
CCI
Janis Guemey, AAP Washington Office
Urgent
X For Review
x Please Comment
Please Reply
Please Recycle
.
Comments: I returned home late yesterday and put this draft together today. I realize that there is
too much material to cover in a 5 minute presentation and will select highlights to present orally. If you
have suggestions about how the material should be edited or presented, please call and leave word on
my voice mail at my home. (I will be seeing patients all day tomorrow and will try to check my voice
mail when I get home.) If you need to reach me during the day, call me on my beeper. 215/383-2704.
I can be reached by beeper when I am in Philadelphia.
By Cc, I am sending a copy to Janis Guemey in the Academy of Pediatrics Washington, DC office so
she can give me her comments too.
10/19/1997 22:58
6106643924
JEROLD ARONSON
PAGE 02
The White House Conference on Child Care
10/19/97 Draft of Remarks Prepared by
Susan S. Aronson, MD, FAAP
Clinical Professor of Pediatrics
Consultant on Health and Safety in Child Care
Member of the Board of the American Academy of Pediatrics
I speak to you as a pediatrician, an advocate for children, a working mother who
was challenged to find good child care when my children were young, and now,
as a grandmother of a toddler in a child care center.
Health and Safety is an Essential Component of Child Care
Government has a duty to preserve, protect and promote the potential of young
children for the future of society. Newly publicized research on the development
of the brain shows that nurturing, brain stimulation and body care in a safe and
healthy environment are critical during a child's early life.
HEAL TH AND SAFETY ISSUES IN CHILD CARE
Avoiding Harm:
preventing infections
preventing injury
Promoting Health:
Child care is a point of access to children to link them
with preventive health care in a "medical home"
to learn behavior for a lifetime of good health
Avoiding Harm by Preventing Infections - Group care increases the risk of
shared infections, but immunization and hygiene are effective control measures.
Children in regulated child care settings have higher levels of immunization
than those in the general population. Most states require some
documentation of immunization for children in child care. Requiring
Just
immunization of children in child care gets vaccine to children when it can do
the most good -- at the age when they are most vulnerable to vaccine-
did
vegs
preventable disease. We have a universal requirement for immunization of
children attending regular school.
1
10/19/1997 22:58
6106643924
JEROLD ARONSON
PAGE 03
RECOMMENDATION: There should be a federal requirement for
immunization according to the nationally recommended schedule as a
condition of attendance in federally subsidized group care. (The
nationally recommended schedule is approved annually by the Advisory
Committee on Immunization Practice of the Centers for Disease Control,
the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of
Family Physicians.)
Good hygiene prevents the spread of infection in child care. We must teach
caregivers and children when and how to wash their hands so they don't feed
each other the germs gathered from the surfaces they touch. Child care
offers many opportunities for the spread of germs: diapering, assistance in
using the toilet, nose-wiping, body-to-body contact and lots of meals and
snacks. Hand washing and disinfecting of contaminated surfaces reduces
the number of germs.
RECOMMENDATION: Child care regulations should require that facilities
have running water and soap in the right places, and sufficient numbers of
caregivers so there is time for hand washing and cleaning of surfaces
before disease spreads. Every child care group should have a sink.
Caregivers should receive training and evaluation on hygiene routines
that prevent disease.
Avoiding Harm by Preventing Injuries
Regulated child care centers are safer than the child's own home. Children are
injured less often per hour of contact in such child care centers than those who
receive care only in their own homes. This is not so for family child care homes
where children have an increased rate of injury per hour of contact than in their
own homes.
RECOMMENDATION: All federally subsidized child care facilities should
be inspected for significant hazards, including home-based care.
Most injuries are preventable. Here are some examples of measures to take to
reduce injury associated with child care:
The largest number of severe injuries that occur while young children are in
child care is the result of falls from climbing equipment that is mounted over
hard surfaces. Impact-absorbing materials and lower-height of play
equipment can prevent these injuries. Installation of impact-absorbing
materials can be costly, but death and disability costs much more.
2
10/19/1997 22:58
6106643924
JEROLD ARONSON
PAGE 04
RECOMMENDATION Develop low-cost loans and partnerships with the
corporate community to finance facility modifications that avoid the
highest risk problems. Surfacing under climbing equipment both indoors
and on the playground should have top priority (along with installation of
sinks) among facility improvements.
Transportation to and from child care exposes children to significant risk from
motor vehicle injury. Appropriate use of car seats and seat belts can prevent
many of these injuries. Child care is a place where parents can learn how to
transport their children safely.
RECOMMENDATION: Expand current programs of the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration to increase teaching and enforcement of
correct use of seat restraints for the child care population.
Many injury prevention measures are inexpensive. Finger-pinching in doors
is a less serious, but common injury in child care. The solution is not
expensive. Almost a decade ago, during a study of French child care, The
First Lady and I were members of a team who observed finger-pinch
preventing rubber gaskets installed on every door in child care centers.
Australia uses them too. The material is attached with screws onto the door
and frame to cover the gap between the hinges and make a forgiving closing
edge of the door.
Many child care buildings are old and full of lead and asbestos. We discover
the problem when a child has a high lead level. HUD funds for environmental
lead detection and abatement are available to reduce lead in an individual
home, but there is no federal program for lead detection and abatement in
child care facilities.
RECOMMENDATION: Legislate and finance enforcement of safety codes
for buildings where young children receive care. Building codes should
address the needs of babies and young children when they are users of a
facility, just as they address the needs of individuals with disabilities.
Further, we must provide training about low-cost injury prevention
measures to inspectors and providers of child care services.
Promoting Health
Widespread use of child care offers unique opportunities to promote the health
of children. I have already mentioned that children in group care are better
immunized than the population as a whole. Child care attendance offers
opportunities to help parents learn about raising their children at the time when
they have the least experience with the complex tasks involved. Health risks are
most pressing when children are very young. Ironically, we have school nurses
3
10/19/1997 22:58
6106643924
JEROLD ARONSON
PAGE 05
in most school settings for older children, while the majority of child care facilities
operate with no health professionals at all.
When child care programs check whether children are up-to-date with routine
check-ups, they find and help connect children to preventive medical services.
Vision screening at age 3 detects a common condition that if untreated, leads to
blindness in one eye. Early hearing screening prevents disabling language
delays. Child care programs can check that kids got their vision and hearing
screening done.
Child care providers can teach life-long healthy behaviors such as dental
hygiene and hand washing. In group care, children can learn to choose
nutritious foods, to balance periods of stress and relaxation, and to use
appropriate, non-violent outlets for anger.
RECOMMENDATION: Expand good federal initiatives:
Head Start Health Component: I learned about the health component of early
education programs when I worked as a Head Start Health Consultant during my
residency. Over the years, I have helped improve the national Head Start
Health Performance Standards. Head Start has led the way and can do more
to model health and safety in child care at the national, regional and local level.
Head Start has been and should expand its role as a change agent for early
childhood in our nation's communities.
The Healthy Child Care America Campaign: During the Clinton Administration,
the Administration for Children and Families and the Maternal and Child Health
Bureau launched the Healthy Child Care America Campaign. This campaign
has publicized the goals of safe and healthy child care, and financed state-by-
state initiatives to implement those goals. The campaign's collaboration among
ACF, MCHB and the American Academy of Pediatrics links government
agencies, health professionals and early childhood educators to promote
successful health and safety strategies. Calls for help are welcome at the toll-
free number for Healthy Child Care America: 888/227-5409. You can reach the
campaign through the Academy's Internet web page too: http://www.aap.org.
Much of the recent work to improve health and safety is based on the joint
publication of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, American Academy of
Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association called Caring for Our
Children, National Health and Safety Performance Standards . Guidelines
for Out-of-home Child Care. Production, distribution and revision of these
guidelines has been a vital tool provided by MCHB to regulators, early childhood
professionals, health professionals and trainers. To help set priorities for
implementation, MCHB also funded the publication of a subset of the standards
4
10/19/1997 22:58
6106643924
JEROLD ARONSON
PAGE 06
that have highest priority for the prevention of death, disability and disease -
called "Stepping Stones." The publications draw together the best research
and expert opinion to inform those who work in child care. Another MCHB-
funded project, the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child
Care, put Caring for Our Children and Stepping Stones on the Internet. The web
address is http://www.nrc.uchsc.edu.
RECOMMENDATION Continue support for and expand access to
information with viable links for all child care providers, trainers and
consultants. All types of caregivers, even those who provide care in the
child's own home, should have access to technical assistance. Home-
based child care needs home visitors to avoid isolation, neglect and
abuse. Centers and homes should have health consultants - nurses
linked to Resource and Referral Agencies, as outreach workers from
Managed Care Organizations and other health institutions, or from school
health programs. We are doing all we can with volunteers, but systematic
involvement will come only if health and safety consultation and training
are a requirement. Expand the impact of technology by helping more
child care providers to obtain and use computers. Even cast-offs
computers from local industries and schools would help.
Suggested Questions:
1. How can we build on existing efforts to link health professionals and child
care providers?
Designate funding for quality improvement in health and safety in child
care to encourage states to establish and maintain programs such as
those now operating in California, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.
These programs use state funds to improve health and safety in child
care by linking health and child care professionals at the local
community level. In Pennsylvania, MCHB funding fills in the gaps
between categorical sources so the entire state population of children
in all types of early childhood programs can benefit.
Continue and expand the Healthy Child Care America campaign.
Through widespread education about what will keep children safe and
healthy, engage parents, child care professionals, health
professionals, legislators, regulators, and the corporate sector in
reaching for a common set of goals.
2. How can child care providers safely handle children with special health
needs and disabilities?
5
10/19/1997 22:58
6106643924
JEROLD ARONSON
PAGE 07
Over 7% of children have asthma. Under ADA, we expect caregivers
to safely care for children with this chronic illness, with food allergy,
developmental and behavioral problems, epilepsy and diabetes. We
must provide mechanisms for health professionals to educate child
care providers as well as parents by compensating them for the work
involved.
We need to develop methods to compensate health professionals who
work with child care providers and to protect them from the liability
exposure specifically excluded from most medical professional
insurance policies.
Health professionals need training to learn how to function effectively
as consultants to child care providers. The American Academy of
Pediatrics pledges to help in this task and is working on tools and
curricula in collaboration with leading nursing organizations.
3. How do we do a better job of assuring that child care in this nation is safe
and healthy in all settings?
We need a systematic approach. Routinely encourage states,
accrediting organizations and funding agencies to use the national
health and safety guidelines to define expected performance. Next,
establish and provide sufficient funding for an inspection system which
reliably and continuously gathers data on how well child care
providers are meeting the expectations. Use the data on actual
performance to design interventions to correct demonstrated
deficiencies. Then, use the data from the ongoing surveillance system
to select the interventions that work and funnel the resources to the
most effective improvement strategies.
Dedicate resources to the ongoing education of everyone involved in
child care at all levels. Require that states spend a specific portion of
federal service dollars on training for regulators, providers, consultants
and parents to improve the quality of child care.
6
OCT 20 '97 14:44 FR ARTHUR ANDERSEN LLP 303 291 9211 TO 9912024566244
P.01/04
ARTHUR
ANDERSEN
ARTHUR ANDERSEN & Ca SC
Facsimile
Denver
Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this
facsimile and is intended only for the use of the addressee.
1225 17TH Street Suite 3100
If you are not the addressee, or person responsible for delivering
it to the person addressed, you may not copy or deliver this to
Denver, Colorado 80202-3341
anyone else. If you receive this facsimile by mistake, please
303 295 1900 Telephone
notify us immediately by telephone. Thank you.
303 291 9211 Facsimile
To (name) NOAN MEYER
From (name) DOUG PRICE
At (company) THE WHITE House
Office number (303)291-9244
Facsimile number (202) 456-6244
Charge number
Date 10/20/97
No. of pages to follow
3
Priority:
Immediate
Normal
IF UNREADABLE OR INCOMPLETE PLEASE CALL
Overnight
Send with attached Distribution List
Subject/Special Instructions
Deliver to NOAH A.S.A.P.
OCT 20 '97 14:44 FR ARTHUR ANDERSEN LLP 303 291 9211 TO 9912024566244
P.02/04
I.
Intro - Ordinary Guy
White middle-class, middle-aged bank president, raised by a career
military officer and a stay-at-home mom whose children have never
seen the inside of a child care center.
1.
My involvement
A.
Governor Romer asked me to chair Colorado's Business
Commission on Child Care Financing
1)
Designed to re-engineer child care and its
financing mechanisms.
B.
Macedonia Baptist Church . Patriotism challenged
1)
Quote Reverend Alan Boesak formerly of ANC in
South Africa.
a.
Greatness of a nation is no longer
measured by the size and strength of its
arsenal.
b.
Greatness of a nation is measured by the
future it provides its children.
c.
Now that I live in America and see how you
treat your children, I fear that you have
strayed from the path that led to your
greatness.
d.
Fortunately the grace of God does not fall
like rain from the sky; instead, it
manifests itself in the actions of
ordinary people.
II.
So just what did Reverend Boesak mean?
A.
If you are over 40, please raise your hand.
1)
10 - maybe 15% sat down.
2)
Asked in San Diego of group of high school kids.
8 out of 10 sat down.
3)
It wasn't until then that it became apparent
that the neighborhood in the rearview mirror I
left behind in the morning as I went to work had
changed. I had been seeing the neighborhood I
was born into in 1956, not the neighborhood my
children were being raised in, in 1997.
4)
As a white, middle-aged, middle-class man, I was
making decisions that affected my employees'
children and my own children, predicated on my
own experiences as a child and not based upon
the reality of today.
OCT 20 '97 14:44 FR ARTHUR ANDERSEN LLP 303 291 9211 TO 9912024566244
P.03/04
III. How has that world changed and what is the impact?
A.
14% of women with children under 6 were in the work
force in 1950.
B.
Today, that number is 60%.
C.
31% of children are born out-of-wedlock.
D.
40% of all kids wake up each morning in a home without
a father.
IV.
What are we doing each morning with our children?
A.
We turn them over to an industry where
1)
The average wage is $6.00 per hour yet average
profit is < 2%.
2)
Their primary caregiver is likely to change more
than twice per year.
3)
60% of care is developmentally neutral.
20% negative or unsafe.
4)
With 60% of all young children in child care and
80% receiving developmentally neutral or
negative care, nearly 50% of all our children
arrive at kindergarten with a meager
developmental background and questionable
preparation to learn.
B.
So here you have it, we have seen the most profound
demographic change in the history of our union and not
a single institution - not schools, not government,
not employment, not even the family - have been re-
engineered to accommodate the effects of maternal work
force participation. Our collective response has been
to remand our children to care each day that is
qualitatively suspect and financially nonsensical.
V.
In Colorado, we have grown to understand that absent,
systemic change, the concept of affordable, quality care, is
an oxymoron. As a result, this past Columbus Day we began
our own journey of discovery known as the Educare Colorado
Initiative. Funded by Colorado's business and foundation
communities and overseen by business, civic and government
leaders, this initiative is designed to emerge with a
comprehensive, integrated, strategic, business plan to
facilitate the formation of a functioning statewide child
care system, not just for children on welfare but for
children in all care.
This effort is begun with a one sentence vision and four guiding
principles:
The Educare vision, building on past experience proposes to
create a fully funded: child-centered; parentally involved:
permanently sustainable; high quality: universal early care
system, that is appropriately monitored and evaluated.
OCT 20 '97 14:45 FR ARTHUR ANDERSEN LLP 303 291 9211 TO 9912024566244
P.04/04
These are the four guiding principles we propose for your
consideration. We think that the combined impact of these
principles establishes Educare's agenda and advances the vision
described earlier.
Principle #1: The system designed must be more than a
traditional plan. It must include commitments that will
assure its full implementation. While we must implement
something of this scale in stages, our focus will be to
create a full-scale effort over a defined period of time.
Principle #2: Educare is taking advantage of this moment in
time that is characterized by an unprecedented confluence of
events and conditions, namely:
Welfare Reform;
A Healthy Economy;
Devolution of Government; and,
Increasing public awareness of the importance of
quality care in the earliest years.
Principle #3: Our goal is to develop a multimedal/delivery
system governed by market forces. Educare's pürpose is not
to compete with or undercut existing early care initiatives
We propose, rather to explore how to combine existing and
newly developed initiatives and funding sources in a manner
that preserves what is currently working, and builds on that
to a point that meets the elements of the vision: full
funding; child-centered; parental involvement; sustainable;
high quality; universal; systemic; monitored and evaluated.
e
Principle #4: With regard to the existing imitiatives and
programs. Educare should provide a way for them to connect
with each other to create more of a system. From that point
forward, all additions, increments, and enhancements will be
made within that system. That system will begin with
investments that create the social, physical and financial
infrastructure that has long been missing
The
infrastructure should include elements of quality service,
from training workers to adequately compensating them. That
infrastructure should include the education of parents to
correct problems they have in knowing how tö identify
quality early care; a key finding in the "Cost, Quality"
study. Educare should then assure parents and providers
that parents will have the opportunity to choose care for
their children, and, when the parents select quality, that
decision will be supported by financial incentives that
incrementally reward those who choose to use this system for
the primary purpose of Educare, (to quote Ed Zigler) "the
delivery to school of a capable child ready to learn."
(Call to action, yet to be written)
** TOTAL PAGE. 04 **
THE OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY Of
DEFENSE
(FORCE MANAGEMENT POLICY)
(OFFICE OF FAMILY POLICY)
BALLSTON TOWERS #3
Room #917
4015 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22203-5190
Facsimile Cover Sheet
To: Noa Meyn
Organization
Phone: 202-456-2787
Fax: 202-456-6244
From: LindaAment
Company: Office of Family Policy
Phone: (703) 696-1702
Fax: (703) 696-4276
Date:
Pages including this
cover page:
For your information.
Comments:
Draft remarko for N6. Mayer's
panel discussion ( 5min). It was my understanding
that he will be aske d a separate question on
the implementation of the Exec. Memorandum Da this
so not on the opening remarks He will be prepared
to respond separately. Let me know of this
isn't what you envisioned.
Lend
SENT BY:OFP
202
FAMILY POLICY-
: 12:20 : :
A "fix, waive, or close" policy
Note that our standards fall in the middle of state standards.
What is different is our enforcement of the standards.
4. Wages tied to training
Caregivers enter $6.53/hour plus benefits and progress to
$8.98/hour.
Stringent requirements for training for all caregiving personnel.
Completion of training leads to promotions.
Failure to finish training leads to dismissal.
Our turnover rate, once as high as 300% is now less than 40%.
5. Commitment to national accreditation standards.
Today over 75% of all eligible military child development centers
are accredited by the National Association for the Education of
Young Children.
This compares to 5-8% nationally.
We think that speaks for itself.
202 456 6244;# 5/ 6
FAMILY POLICY-
: 12:20 : :
SENT BY:OFP
2. A commitment to funding.
Child care is expensive - Quality costs more than most young
families can afford to pay.
We have a cost sharing system between us and the parents.
In our centers and school-age care programs, parents pay fees on a
sliding scale based on total family income.
In our family child care program we use appropriated funds to
provide training, equipment, and in some cases direct cash
subsidies to our providers.
I should point out that one distinction of our funding is that the
government share goes directly to the program as opposed to the
parents. This share is used to improve wages and training as well
as reduce the fees paid by parents.
3. Strict oversight.
quarterly unannounced inspections
a system of checks and balances requiring higher headquarters
involvement
world-wide accessible child abuse and safety hotline
202 456 6244 ;# 4/ 6
FAMILY POLICY-
: 12:20 : :
SENT BY OFP
a DoD Child Development program policy,
initiated background clearances on all personnel and
began an aggressive clean-up through inspections and oversight.
We are pleased to share our lessons learned in building a our child care
system. Five key factors changed our program from one once referred to as
the "ghetto of American child care" to a model for the nation.
1. A systematic approach
Each component of the system is an equal partner.
family child care,
child development centers,
school-age care.
Each has equivalent requirements for
inspections,
training,
background clearances.
There is a single point of entry for child care.
202 456 6244 # 3/ 6
FAMILY POLICY-
: 12:20 : :
SENT BY OFP
affects ability to attract and retain a high caliber workforce
Program is very large and growing
We serve over 200,000 children daily
at over 800 centers and school age care facilities.
9,700 family child care homes.
nearly 40% of our care is for infants and toddlers.
Our child development program wasn't always good.
A 1982 GAO Report pointed out:
facilities did not meet fire, health and safety codes,
there were no program standards
no oversight of family child care homes.
In the mid 1980's, like the rest of the country, wc experienced a series of
highly publicized child abuse allegations.
We had to re-look how we were doing business.
We issued construction standards,
202 456 6244;# 2/ 6
FAMILY POLICY-
: 12:19 : :
SENT BY :OFP
Proposed Outline for White House Child Care Panel Discussion
On behalf of Secretary of Defense Cohen and the entire Department it is my
pleasure to participate on this panel and discuss the Military Child
Development Program.
DoD has the largest corporate sponsored child care program in the country.
Over 1.4 million active duty members
Over 1.29 million children under the age of 18 years.
More than 345,000 children are under age 3.
Each year over 109,000 children are born to our active duty.
They are at the lower end of the pay scale.
Military parents are geographically separated from their extended
families
Availability and affordability of child care is a real quality of life issue for
them. Child care is critical to the DoD "bottom line.
we consider child care a workforce issue
impacts effectiveness of the force
9 /I 156 202
FAMILY POLICY-
: 12:19
..
:
SENT BY:OFP
64243J3735C7M6"TIONS
6174979331
P.01
Oct. 20, 1997
FAX 202-456-9412
To : Jennifer Klein
Fr: Michey Seligson 617.497.9331
Jennifer - -
Here's the latest version of my talle - I've
tried to cover ace the bases. Let
me hear from you today. I'll be at home
all day.
Thanks
Flicky
64243J3735G7M6"TIONS
6174979331
P.02
-1-
DRAFT 10-19-97
White House Child Care Conference panel presentation
Opening
President and Mrs. Clinton, I want to thank both of you for the honor of
asking me to participate in this conference. I have been working for more
than twenty years on school-age child care with many others, trying to help
parents and children and communities, and so it is tremendously exciting to
know that you are not only interested in this vital issue, but that you want to
help.
I first got involved in school-age child care when I needed after school care
for my own children, Sally and Jon. I was lucky to connect with other
parents and we started a parent coop center with a small after school
program. In that same community of Brookline, Mass I then helped other
groups of parents start extended day programs in all the elementary schools,
in partnership with the Brookline school committee which provided rent free
space SO that low-income parents could afford the care. Two tiny articles in
the Ladies Home Journal and McCalls magazine brought me 2,000 letters
from parents and schools and public and private agencies. I still remember
one letter from a mother who drew a map showing me how many big streets
64243J3735G7M6"TIONS
6174979331
P.03
-2-
her daughter had to cross, the location of a scary field, the number of blocks
between school and home.
Is this a problem? What are the dimensions? Where do children go after
school?
Many adults over the age of thirty remember out-of-school time as time to
play with friends, explore the neighborhood, play records, ride bikes, and
above all, eat! Someone's mother or relative was home but mostly invisible.
People remember feeling safe. Things are different now. Kids don't speak
about feeling safe in their neighborhoods, or even at home. 25 million
children in America have working parents, many of whom work full-time
once their kids reach school. Children spend less than 20 percent of their
waking hours in school. Risks to health and even life are now common
among young children. Newly reported data from eight states on peak hours
for violent juvenile crime show nearly half of crimes taking place between 2
PM and 11PM. (National Center on Juvenile Justice and the Office for
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention).
Unsupervised children are at significantly higher risk of truancy from school,
stress, receiving poor grades, risk-taking behavior and substance abuse
(Dwyer et al, (1990); Marshall et al (1997) )
64243J3735G7M6'TIONS
6174979331
P.04
-3-
Children spend more of their out-of-school time watching television than any
other single activity, and we know the impact of that on kids-kids read less,
play less, and are more aggressive. On average, American children spend 40
hours a week watching television and playing video games, more hours than
they spend in school, and children in low-income households are estimated to
spend 50 percent more time watching television than their privileged peers.
Our best estimates tell us at least at least 5 million children between 5 and 14
spend too much time on their own during a typical week.
The 1990 National Child Care Study breaks down percentages of after school
arrangements-and concludes that while there are a lot of kids who go home
to relatives, to child care centers, to family day care homes, it's pretty clear
when kids pour out of school buildings at 2 or 3 p.m. they don't all head for
the local Y. A lot of kids go to malls, to fast food restaurants, to each others
houses where there may or may not be an adult present to supervise.
Parents tell their younger children to go straight home from school, to lock
the door, and how to answer the phone so no-one knows they are alone-all
64243J3735G7M6"TIONS
6174979331
P.05
-4-
good ideas to keep kids safe. But many kids are glued to the t.v. during this
time, and often experience loneliness in this kind of social isolation.
What does research have to say about what makes for healthy kids who feel
good about themselves and others, and who are competent in school? The
key studies point to two factors: caring relationships and constructive
activities.
One evaluation of afterschool programs (Vandell) finds that the single most
important factor is the quality of children's interactions with the program
staff. Kids do better in school, are more self assured-if they attend carefully
structured programs where the primary work of the adults is caring about
and for the kids. The Cooperative Extension Service (Riley,et al, 1994)
studied the effects of 64 such programs in 15 states, and found that
principals and teachers reported their students as doing better academically,
behaving more cooperatively, handling conflicts better, showing increased
interest in reading, and becoming less involved in vandalism.
Jerome Bruner has written compellingly that what helps kids learn is the
nature of their relationships, our capacity to listen and to hear their stories.
We develop a sense of self not in a vacuum but in relation to others--the
chance to try to learn something you don't know how to do-physical or
64243J3735G7M6'TIONS
6174979331
P.06
-5-
artistic or intellectual-in a safe place where you don't pass or fail. Good
after school programs make that possible. As do adult staff who understand
the age group, who are comfortable in a relaxed setting that is different from
school, who use their unique talents and personalities and their capacity to
engage the children.
This is not just about some working families needing after school child care.
This is an issue that cuts across all income groups, including families
preparing to enter the out-of-home work force. Every family that on this very
day is managing the work and family and school and child care whirlwind
knows what I mean.
Yet some Americans are more in need of help with school-age child care
than others. Some don't have the resources to pay for lessons, after school
sports, academic programs, summer camps. Some kids do not get the same
exposure to ideas, skills, positive relationships with adults and their peers.
The National Before and After School Program Study clearly shows this
discrepancy-83 percent of approximately 50,000 school-age child care
programs depend on parent fees for their survival. Many families simply
can't pay.
64243J3735G7M6"TIONS
6174979331
P.07
-6-
What is being done? How are communities dealing with this issue?
Today there are a few more resources in a few communities for parents to
get help finding care. There is a national network of child care resource and
referral agencies. There has been generous funding from the American
Business Collaboration that has helped to develop more programs and
improve quality. Some states have enacted enabling legislation so schools
can partner with community agencies, others have financed training and new
programs. After-school programs exist in schools, in churches, in parks and
recreation centers, in youth-serving agencies, child care centers and in family
day care homes.
Building collaborations is an effective way to stimulate development of the
supply of services, make inroads in improving quality, and leverage both
dollars and facilities. This kind of partnering is working well in Boston,
Chicago, and Seattle, through a privately funded initiative of the Dewitt
Wallace Readers Digest Fund, called MOST (Making the Most of Out-of-
School Time). In Chicago a new partnership with the city's Park District is
creating new school-age child care spaces for several thousand children; in
Boston, Parents United for Child Care has leveraged hundreds of thousands
of dollars from the private and public sector to support low-income families'
64243J3735G7M6"TIONS
6174979331
P.08
-7-
school-age child care; in Seattle anyone can go to a public library or eighty-
eight other community access points to log on free to the data base through
and get information about 300 out-of-school time programs like art centers,
sports and recreation, tutorial services.
But there are problems.
We've got much further to go. There is not enough affordable school-age.
Programs could serve more children right now with funding targeted for a
spectrum of low income families.
While there is widespread agreement on standards of quality established by
the field, and a new accreditation system of the national professional
organization, NSACA, quality is uneven at best. We have the right to
expect certain quality standards such as ratios and------.
It is more and more difficult to recruit qualified school-age child care staff.
Salaries are low and turnover is high, and people move on quickly to better
paying work.
64243J3735G7M6"TIONS
6174979331
P.09
-8-
Programs depend almost exclusively on parent fees and often pass along to
parents the cost of having to lease school facilities and pay for custodial
services. There is a huge transportation problem-who should pay to bus
children from school to after school program? Parents or the school district?
Some school boards have welcomed partnerships with community-based
organizations, or are running their own programs; others resist them.
Rural areas have special issues such as the distance program participants
must travel. And many children with special needs do not have access to the
existing system because of inadequate staff training.
Conclusion
Finally, this is about kids, it's about families, it's about communities. The
singular mission and the most important goal is not only to keep kids safe,
but to create wonderful opportunities that let them be kids; opportunities
that free them from taking premature responsibility for themselves or their
siblings. Wherever programs are housed, no matter the sponsorship, we
should expect them all to be places kids like to come to-they do vote with
their feet! Programs should respect the power of play as children's work.
Good programs understand that the social-emotional needs of children are
inextricably linked with school ability and accomplishment. And good
programs can serve as the bridge between parents and schools, giving
64243J3735G7M6"TIONS
6174979331
P.10
-9-
parents not only the reassurance their kids are safe while they are at work or
preparing for work, but also the knowledge that a trained, caring adult is
there to help. Thank you.
Department
Distribution
of the Treas
to:
room:
date: 10/20/97 Executive Secretary
Attached for your comments/clearance is a copy of the Secretary's
White House Child Care Conference speech. Please review and
return all comments to Linda Johnson by 5:30pm today. Thanks.
Distribution
Froman/Solomon
Knight
Schloss
Gruber
Boorstin/Kaplan
Barr
worky group
Neal C. Comstock
room 3408
phone 622-0064
draft 10/20 1:00 pm; 5 minutes.
Remarks Prepared For Delivery
White House Child Care Conference
Secretary Robert Rubin
October 23, 1997
It is a pleasure to speak with you at this historic conference about the
importance of child care to the health of our economy.
Over the last five years we have witnessed significant progress in our
economy. Five years ago, a high budget deficit kept interest rates high and stifled
growth. We had 7.3 percent unemployment and were viewed by many as
yesterday's economy. Today, we have nearly eliminated the budget deficit, and
that helped keep interest rates low, and sustained the economic recovery.
Unemployment is now at 4.9 percent, the economy has generated over 13 million
new jobs over the last four and a half years, inflation has remained low, and real
wages are rising across the income spectrum. We are clearly once again the
strongest major economy in the world.
The source of this success has been a sound economic strategy grounded
in fiscal responsibility, opening markets and investing in people. But we should
not let this progress mask the challenges we still face in producing a prosperous
and competitive economy over the long run. A key question we face is how to
create an environment that promotes increased productivity, which, in turn, is
critical to raising standards of living. Creating that environment includes several
1
elements -- investing in people by improving education and training, investing in
infrastructure, and increasing access to technology, for example. But there is no
doubt that one key to increased productivity is to have a flexible and mobile
workforce where all can participate to the full extent of their abilities. And that is
where child care is central.
biz/law schools
% women at
Before joining the Clinton Administration, I worked for a major investment Golden
bank on Wall Street for twenty six years. I remember when I first started there
Suchs
were virtually no women at my firm, or on Wall Street in general. Over time we
started to get extremely talented women joining the firm, and we faced the
En the
challenge of keeping very good people as they started their own families. Today
there are 20 million families with employed mothers using child care, including 8
a small segment of
million families with children under the age of five. My experience in the private
sector taught me that it is very much in the interest of business to create a work
environment that supports the needs of each individual through flex time,
telecommuting, and, of course, by providing access to child care. It benefits the
dwan from largest
Add differst GS is
individual obviously, and it benefits the company by allowing them to retain possible
best enably
talented and knowledgeable people, avoiding the costs of retraining. In turn, the
erables
economy at large benefits because it encourages workers to go where their
Fucker the
talents dictate.
is-tatted
vast majority worky nothe
Of course, the challenge of finding affordable child care is particularly
2
difficult for lower income people, especially those trying to move from welfare to
work. For families with preschoolers and annual incomes of less than $14,000,
annual child care costs total, on average, 25 percent of their income. As for the
difficulties facing those who are leaving welfare, consider the example of a
working mother of two in Pennsylvania. After leaving welfare, losing government
benefits and incurring child care costs, her disposable income increases by only
22 cents for every extra dollar she earns <ck: gus/econ policy -- is that assuming
she makes minimum wage?> A low income mother should not have to choose
between caring for her child and going to work.
Whether we speak of low or middle income mothers, there can be no doubt
that providing effective child care is an issue of critical importance to our society
and our economy. Clearly, government at all levels -- federal, state, and local --
have roles to play, in partnership with businesses.
Straight business example,
Already, such partnerships are evolving. In Rochester, New York, a public-
private partnership, the Rochester/Monroe County Early Childhood Development
mare
Initiative, established in 1990, has developed a set of priorities for improving
consise
child care. During its first five years, ECD's efforts led to the creation of 2,000
new child care slots, and 86 percent of 3 and 4-year-olds are now in child care, up
from 55 percent of 4-year-olds and 20 percent of 3-year-olds in 1989. Working
together, Monroe County and United Way created more than 600 new subsidized
3
slots for low-income families in 1995. Businesspeople, in turn, established a
private sector fundraising initiative, Rochester's Child, to provide funds to
quality, accredited child care centers, and work with United Way to help family
child care providers become accredited. The number of accredited centers has
increased from 3 in 1989 to more than 40 in 1996.
By identifying and publicizing programs such as these, we can create that
kind of success elsewhere. Doing so is critical not only to the lives of the
econy
mothers and children involved, but to business, and the well-being of our society
as we enter a new century. Thank you very much.
4
OCT. 20. 1997 6:37PM
OFFICE OF SECRETARY
NO
OF EDUCATION
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
THE
L.VITED STATES JF APERATA
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY
401-0596 0596
FAX TRANSMITTAL
TO:
Nicole/Jen K.
ORGANIZATION:
PHONE NUMBER:
FAX NUMBER:
9412
FROM:
Jill Riemer
PHONE NUMBER:
MESSAGE: ©Script from Riley's
town meeting s as adisass
2 Terrys Co are open to
the ideandr a 2:30 or 3:00
touch base tomorrow
AM conference call lets
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
Due
THIS TRANSMISSION IS INTENDED FOR AND RESTRICTED TO THE
NAMED ADDRESSEE ONLY. IT MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL AND/OR
PRIVILEGED INFORMATION. IF YOU RECEIVE THIS TRANSMISSION IN
ERROR. YOU ARE NOTIFIED THAT YOU ARE PROHIBITED FROM
READING, COPYING, OR DISSEMINATING THE TRANSMISSION.
PLEASE CALL 202-401-3000 TO ARRANGE FOR RETURN OF ANY
TRANSMISSION SET IN ERROR. THANK YOU.
PAGE(S) TO FOLLOW
600 INDEPENDENCE AVE.. S.W. WASHINGTON. D.C. 20202
OCT 20. 1997 6:37PM
OFFICE OF SECRETARY
NO. 4404 P. 2
Page 1
SATELLITE TOWN MEETING - Teleprompter Script
"Back to School: Families and Communities Together for Learning"
Tuesday, September 16, 1997
SECRETARY RILEY: Good evening and welcome to our September Satellite Town
Meeting, our first program for the 1997-98 school year. It is a pleasure to be with you
again.
Tonight's program will focus on the exciting back to school time when all Americans can
commit to improving education across the nation. Improving our schools is a national
priority, as well as a local responsibility. Education in our nation will only improve
classroom by classroom, school by school, and community by community. As part of
the America Goes Back to School initiative, our program tonight will feature ways that
schools, families and communities can form partnerships to extend learning, especially
in reading and math, before and after-school.
Our program will also showcase Community Learning Centers as safe after-school
havens for children, where learning takes place in a building removed from the violence,
drugs, and lack of adult supervision that permeate some communities in America.
Community Learning Centers are a cornerstone of President Clinton's America Reads
Challenge proposal, which seeks to match reading partners with children who have
reading difficulties before and after-school and during the summer.
Before we begin our program, I would like to discuss the latest developments in
education since the last Satellite Town Meeting. A few weeks ago, President Clinton
and Congress enacted an agreement to balance the budget and cut taxes over the next
five years. This agreement includes billions of dollars in education tax credits to help
millions of Americans pursue college, graduate education or part-time study to improve
OCT. 20. 1997 38PM
OFFICE OF SECRETARY
NO. 4404
P. 3
Page 2
or acquire job skills. The balanced budget contains the HOPE Scholarship tax credit for
the first two years of undergraduate education, and a 20 percent tuition tax credit to
help pay for the junior and senior years of college, graduate, technical or professional
education,
There have also been some positive developments concerning the U.S. Department of
Education's Voluntary National Testing initiative. To date, seven states, as well as
fifteen urban school districts and Department of Defense schools will participate in
voluntary national tests in fourth grade reading and eighth grade math that reflect high
national standards. The new tests will be available to states and school districts to
assess students in the spring of each year, beginning in the spring of 1999.
Now it's time for us to go back to school. My co-host tonight is Gerald Tirozzi, Assistant
Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education. Our moderator is Nancy Mathis,
who will introduce our other guests. Nancy?
NANCY MATHIS: Thank you, Secretary Riley. Tonight, our panelists will discuss why
better education is everybody's business and how all Americans can get involved with
their local schools and communities to improve education across the nation. Our
guests this evening are:
Dr. John Hodge Jones, superintendent of Murfreesboro, Tennessee;
Tina Gonzales, a parent of a child at Intermediate School 218 in New York City;
Ron Mertz, president of Eco-Scrap, a Unocal Company in Los Angeles, California; and
Matt DeVore, president of the Associated Students of Oregon State University, who will
join us via satellite.
OCT. 20. 1997 6:38PM
OFFICE OF SECRETARY
NO. 4404 P. 4
Page 3
Welcome to our Satellite Town Meeting. I would also like to welcome members of our
studio audience, some of whom are students representing the president's Student
Summit. As we all know, school consumes only a small part of a student's time.
Across the nation, schools and communities are working together to provide extended
learning opportunities during the hours outside of school. Let's look at an example of a
Community Learning Center at Intermediate School 218 in New York City.
VIDEO: "Community Learning Center"
NANCY MATHIS: Welcome back. I invite our viewing audience around the nation to
call us with your comments or questions. The number to call if you are outside the
Washington, D.C. area is 1-800-368-5781. In Washington, the number is
202-463-3170 or 3171. For our Spanish-language audience, we have translators
standing by to take your telephone calls so that you can ask questions and receive
answers in Spanish.
Tina Gonzales, let's start with you. Tell us how Intermediate School 218 started its own
Community Learning Center. What have been the benefits of keeping the school doors
open during non-traditional hours?
OFF TELEPROMPTER: PANEL DISCUSSION, PHONES AND AUDIENCE
QUESTIONS.
NANCY MATHIS: The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Cooperative Extension Service
has joined together in local partnerships to run the 4-H After-School Activity Program.
Let's look at a videotape that highlights the after-school program in Los Angeles,
VIDEO: "4-H After-School Activity Program, Los Angeles, California"
OFF TELEPROMPTER: PANEL DISCUSSION, PHONES AND AUDIENCE
QUESTIONS.
OCT. 20. 1997 6:38PM
OFFICE OF SECRETARY
NO. 4404 P. 5
Page 4
NANCY MATHIS: We are joined via satellite from Corvallis, Oregon, by Matt DeVore,
president of the Associated Students of Oregon State University, as well as his
colleague Saji Prelis, and Lisa Marie Nelson, who is conference director of the Oregon
Goes Back to School Program. Matt, let's start with you. Tell us more about your
organization. What prompted you to form the Associated Students of Oregon State
University?
OFF TELEPROMPTER: PANEL DISCUSSION, PHONES AND AUDIENCE
QUESTIONS.
NANCY MATHIS: As we've heard tonight, schools can be a critical resource to meet
the growing need for children to have safe and productive activities during the hours
outside of the school day. Let's review a video from Murfreesboro, Tennessee which
highlights the benefits of extended learning programs.
VIDEO: "Extended Learning in Murireesboro, Tennessee"
OFF TELEPROMPTER: PANEL DISCUSSION, PHONES AND AUDIENCE
QUESTIONS.
NANCY MATHIS: Let's quickly review what we've learned from tonight's discussion.
Parents, educators, community and business leaders are encouraged to:
1.)
Spend time reading to and with a child so he or she can read well by the end of
third grade.
2.)
Coach a child in math so he or she is motivated and prepared to take algebra by
the eighth grade.
3.)
Educate students to prevent substance abuse and expand after-school programs
for elementary and middle-school students.
4.)
Assist teachers by recruiting and organizing tutors for help after-school,
weekends and during the summer.
5.)
Plan a series of events that connect middle and high school students and their
OCT. 20. 1997 6:39PM
OFFICE OF SECRETARY
NO. 4404 P. 6
Page 5
parents with college, and learn about the education tax cuts contained in the balanced
budget agreement that will help families pay for college. And
6.)
Learn more about how your school, school district and state can sign-up to take
the 1999 national tests in fourth grade reading and eighth grade math to make sure
students are mastering the basics.
Before we end the show, I would like to make you aware of some important resources
available from the U.S. Department of Education. A copy of the America Goes Back to
School kit for families, as well as the U.S. Department of Education's publication
Keeping Schools Open as Community Learning Centers, is available by calling
1-800-USA-LEARN. Please be sure to join us for our next Satellite Town Meeting
entitled "Preparing Classrooms for the Future: Ensuring Access to the Internet" on
Tuesday, October 21 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. With Secretary Riley in Washington, D.C.
I I'm Nancy Mathis. Goodnight.