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 parenting information. We also equip child care providers with resources and tools to start their own businesses and expand their existing programs. 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.
Early Childhood Education in Central Indiana
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 parenting services, available in online and in-person platforms, we aim to minimize any hoops to help families on your parenting journey and gain access to child care. Our services include:
- Help finding and choosing child care
- One-on-one support
- Workshops and events
- Resource guides and self-help
Our focus on
Child care professionals
Children under the age of five spend an average of 36 hours per week in a child care setting, often more awake time 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 $12.88/hr or $26,790 in 2020. To support these professionals, we provide guidance and support for:
- Those interested in opening a child care business
- Child care programs interested in becoming licensed or expanding their capacity
- Experienced child care programs looking to enhance their businesses, learning environments, or careers
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 policymakers and local 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
“Occupational Employment and Wages of Childcare Workers, May 2020.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 31, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes399011.htm.
