Our Focus
Our mission is to improve the well-being, care, and education for the whole child.
As a result of our mission, we focus our work on creating quality care and education for all central Indiana children. Families turn to us to find trusted child care and quality resources. We help child care providers navigate resources and ensure they have access to partners and businesses that can enhance their work. We ensure that community partners, employers, and policy makers have access to a platform that amplifies their own work and creates awareness around a shared vision – making the essential accessible to all.
We welcome all, including those of all races, cultures, and nationalities, regardless of immigration status or language spoken; those of all sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, or family structure; those of all ages and socio-economic circumstances; those of all abilities, including disabilities and medical or mental health conditions. Our services are free and accessible to all.
Children who attend high quality preschool programs are less likely to need special education, to be arrested, or to require social services. They tend to be healthier, earn higher incomes, and pay more taxes.
Urban Child Institute
Investments in Early Childhood Benefit Our Entire Community
Our focus on
Families
During the first years of life, one million neuron connections happen each second. It’s never too early to get a child started on the path to quality interactions with parents, caregivers, and other children. Through our free services for families, available in online and in-person platforms, we aim to minimize any hoops to help families on their journey and gain access to child care.
Our focus on
Child care professionals
Young children of working families often spend more awake time in a child care setting than what they spend with their own families. Child care professionals wear many hats, balancing environments that provide a loving home-away-from-home while teaching children social-emotional skills and preparing them to succeed academically. They are often providing these services with wages that are among the lowest in the U.S. workforce, an average of $13.22/hr or $27,490 in 2021. To support these professionals, we connect them to resources and ensure they have access to partners and businesses that can enhance their work.
Our focus on
Community Partners
Investing in child care is not just an investment in children and families, it is an investment in the building blocks of our country and communities. And it will take all of us, at all levels, to solve the child care costs and availability dilemma. This is why we place so much value on the relationships we foster with other central Indiana community partners and agencies. We work with these partners to:
- Connect families with multiple social service needs to child care and parenting resources
- Collaborate and solve community challenges through local coalitions and community groups where early care and education is a piece of the puzzle
- Educate community leaders on the importance of early care and education how investment in it can positively affect the community as a whole
Our focus on
Employers
Lack of child care has a direct impact on businesses’ bottom line – Indiana companies lose $1.8 billion every single year from extra wages and reduced productivity, not to mention costs associated with recruiting and retaining quality employees. We work with employers through free services and resources for:
- Corporate leaders
- Human Resources professionals
- Facilities and offices
- Employees and working parents
Our focus on
Reports and Data
Because we work with many families and child care programs, we have access to a lot of helpful information about them and what they need. A part of our role is to gather data from these audiences and then share it with the broader community in a way that is most meaningful for them. As a part of our services, we:
- Produce custom reports to inform and educate families, child care programs, and early childhood advocates
- Regularly survey families, child care programs, our community partners, and local businesses to understand their needs relating to child care and parenting
- Provide resources to other local and national data tools
Featured Resource
Child Care Answers Brochure
Interested in sharing our services with friends, family, or colleagues? Download or print our brochure for a brief explanation of who we are, what we do, and who we serve.
“Metrics to Support and Inform.” Early Childhood State Profile: Early Learning Indiana Data Center. Accessed July 20, 2021. http://datacenter.earlylearningin.org/
“2020 Interactive Dashboard.” Indiana Early Learning Advisory Committee. Accessed July 20, 2021. http://www.elacindiana.org/data/elac-annual-report-interactive-dashboard/
“Investments in Early Childhood Benefit Our Entire Community.” Urban Child Institute. Accessed July 20, 2021. http://www.urbanchildinstitute.org/articles/features/investments-in-early-childhood-benefit-our-entire-community.
“Cost of Attendance.” Student Central – Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Accessed July 20, 2021. https://studentcentral.iupui.edu/cost/cost-attendance.html.
“Early Educator Pay & Economic Insecurity Across the States – Early Childhood Workforce Index 2020.” CSCCE, June 2, 2021. https://cscce.berkeley.edu/workforce-index-2020/the-early-educator-workforce/early-educator-pay-economic-insecurity-across-the-states/.
“Lost Opportunities: The Impact of Inadequate Chid Child Care on Indiana’s Workforce & Economy” Indiana University Public Policy Institute, 2018. https://earlylearningin.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/economic.impact_early.learning_sep.28.2018_final.pdf
“Childcare Workers : Occupational Outlook Handbook.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, October 4, 2022. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/personal-care-and-service/childcare-workers.htm#tab-5.
