The James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF) has awarded WEPOWER and partners, including IFF, $637,000, to conduct necessary research, planning, training, and community development to improve the regional early childhood education (ECE)  landscape and share best practices nationally. The ultimate aim of the project is to deliver sustainable, high-quality early childhood education with a seat for every child in the region who needs one, and to ensure that all St. Louisans have access to quality child care.

 

Thanks in large part to JSMF’s funding and support, WEPOWER, IFF, and a broad set of partners, including social sector, business, and governmental entities across the city and county, will work together to bring a vision for a reimagined early childhood system to fruition in the St. Louis region. WEPOWER and its partners will work with key leaders and stakeholders in the St. Louis community as they develop a regional implementation and action plan for the local early childhood system. This work builds on the considerable efforts to date in St. Louis to advance early childhood priorities, including the development of the community-led Early Childhood Playbook and the creation of the Gateway Early Childhood Alliance. Additionally, this work will be supported by the efforts of IFF, Prenatal to Five Fiscal Strategies (P5FS), and Watershed Advisors, all of whom have done similar work across the country focused on resource mapping, cost modeling, and implementation planning for the system.

 

According to Child Care Aware, more than 100 child care centers have closed in St. Louis City alone since 2020. Moreover, nationally, "more than 70,000 child care programs—one-third of those supported by American Rescue Plan stabilization funding—will likely close, and approximately 3.2 million children could lose their child care spots. The loss in tax and business revenue will likely cost states $10.6 billion in economic activity per year.” At a time when all industries are searching for employees, the early learning and care industry has been impacted in unparalleled ways. While other industries can raise prices to cover increased personnel costs, child care centers cannot raise tuition to increase wages without burdening families. In the St. Louis metropolitan statistical area, child care workers’ hourly mean wage is $14.36, compared to $17.00 per hour for a retail salesperson. 

 

JSMF knows that a robust and comprehensive regional research and planning effort fueled by highly engaged and coordinated stakeholders is necessary to inform program and policy design and implementation, and to provide a roadmap for strategies needed to move the St. Louis region forward to close the access, affordability, and quality gaps in early childhood education. By coming together around a shared set of data, grounded in cutting-edge research, stakeholders across the region can drive actions that will improve early childhood outcomes and, thus, economic and social outcomes across St. Louis City and County. Indeed, research by economist James Heckman has found that investing in high-quality early childhood programs yielded a 13% return on investment per child through better education, economic health, and social outcomes. Every year, the state of Missouri loses $1.36B due to child care issues faced by the workforce, which impacts St. Louis as well. Investing in child care keeps the city’s working families engaged in the workforce.

 

Dr. Jason Q. Purnell, President of JSMF, explains the organization’s commitment to early childhood education is a key element of its investments in the region’s workforce:  “JSMF understands that early childhood programming is critical for parents in today’s workforce and essential for the next generation to have the best chance at higher wages and long-term economic mobility.” He adds, “Our region needs both the capacity to serve every child who needs an early childhood education seat and an actionable plan to make sure every family has access to those seats.”

 

According to Charli Cooksey, WEPOWER CEO, “When we invest in the systems that care for our children, we are investing in creating a prosperous region. Early childhood systems change is a moral and economic imperative for our region.”

 

Learn more about The James S. McDonnell Foundation at jsmf.org. You can find more about WEPOWER at wepowerstl.org.