Advocates for young children from dozens of California organizations gathered in Sacramento March 25 as part of an effort to build a united voice for early childhood programs. That unity has been carefully nurtured by the conference sponsor—a project called the Water Cooler, initiated by L.A.’s Advancement Project. Over the previous year, the Water Cooler has brought child care, preschool, K-12, policy, and government leaders together in work groups for discussions of key early childhood issues.

Three years ago, the unsuccessful campaign for a universal preschool ballot measure (Prop. 82) revealed some deep fault lines within the early childhood community. Advocates were on opposing sides of key issues—should California start with programs for four-year-olds or emphasize quality care for infants and toddlers? Focus on part-day school readiness programs or child care while parents work? Public preschool for all kids or just the disadvantaged? What role for the K-12 system? Family child care? First 5? Others worried that a big commitment to preschool might mean less money for already underfunded K-12 programs. 

“The Advancement Project formed the Water Cooler to allow groups to come together,” says Sharon Dow, director of government relations for the Advancement Project, “and see if we could come up with united policies to get better results for children.”

Progress toward a common agenda was visible at the conference. Jenny Paul-Rappaport of the Advancement Project summarized the day’s themes:

• a strong commitment to programs for children from birth to five—including presentations on the impact of experiences in the first three years
  
  
• seeing programs for young children as part of a continuum of education “from cradle to career”—and emphasizing the need to bring early childhood and K-12 advocates together
  
  
• commitment to a “mixed delivery system” that in-cludes private centers, family child care, school districts, and license-exempt providers
  
  
• commitment to providing quality care to all children—including children with special needs, children who speak languages other than English, and children in all geographical areas
  
  
• commitment to improving quality—strengthening the state’s licensing program and creating a Quality Rating and Improvement System.
  
  

“Collectively in control”

The Water Cooler brought together key early care and education groups—including the California Association for the Education of Young Children (CAEYC), California Association of Family Child Care (CAFCC), California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, California Head Start, Preschool California, and Working for Quality Child Care—along with other groups concerned about young children: First 5, the Association of California School Administrators, the National Council of La Raza, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

“We didn’t go in with any agenda,” says Dow. “When people realized that they could say whatever they wanted and were collectively in control, there were a lot of good feelings about it. The more participants find out about each other, the more they find they have in common.”

“Commitment to children from 0 to 5”

“Some people advocate for universal preschool and some advocate for targeted preschool,” says Catherine Atkin, president of Preschool California. “(But) in the Water Cooler, we all came together with a baseline commitment to creating an agenda for children, 0 to 5.”

“Issues get framed as dichotomies, but they’re not,” adds Kris Perry, executive director of First 5 California. “We might need to use resources now in a more targeted way, but in five or ten years where do we want to be?”

Relationship with school districts

“For a long time the ECE profession has realized that we need to bridge that gap between early care and education and K-12 education,” says CAEYC president Ginger Swigart. “We’re talking about revenue and how to fund the ECE system, while at the same time not hurt funding for K-12 education. We’re trying to be good partners with K-12 educators.”

Role of family child care

The participation of family child care providers is “so important,” says Marva Lyons, former president of the CAFCC. “Once we start talking, people start realizing we’re a piece of the puzzle. The slots you need for infants? We’ve got them. Slots for toddlers, afterschool care? We’ve got that. They need to use us.”

Quality rating and improvement systems

In Water Cooler discussions leading up to the conference, “a lot of energy went toward a Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS),” says Jennifer Kagiwada of Working for Quality Child Care. Besides improving quality, participants hope a QRIS will help raise staff pay, by including higher rates for higher quality programs.

A statewide quality improvement system might also bring “organizational structure and coherence” to the complicated early childhood system, says Swigart, though “we’re still struggling with how inclusive (it) should be. (We agreed it) should be mandatory for all family child care providers and centers, and provide an entry point for license exempt providers.”

But “it’s not necessarily possible for one set of quality indicators to work. We have so much diversity in California,” adds Perry.

Work force development

In the past, some argued that raising educational requirements for early childhood staff was the first step—then we could talk about money. But participants say the work force work group is united in insisting that raising compensation be linked to raising educational requirements. Many early care and education workers, said work group co-chair Marcy Whitebook, are not able to provide the highest quality care because they are “living with toxic stress” resulting from low pay.

Next steps

These issues “require further conversation,” says Sydney Kamlager, public affairs manager at Crystal Stairs. “The first meetings provided credibility, networking, and a consensus of what’s on the table.”

“There’s new money and a commitment to early childhood (in the federal stimulus) that we’re more prepared for since we sat down and talked about these issues,” says Perry. “It puts us in a better place to leverage the money.”

The conference “was very impressive,” adds Swigart. “It was a large group, and they got business leaders there—also (political leaders and) union presidents. I hope coming out of this (process) is a set of recommendations that not only the ECE community agrees on, but the broader community as well. So if there is a piece of legislation, we have a coalition that’s broad enough to make it happen.”

For more information on the Water Cooler, contact
the Advancement Project, 213-989-1300, www.advanceproj.org