Fact Sheets

• Apr 16, 2013  |  Vickie Choitz and Patrick Reimherr Mind the Gap: High Unmet Financial Need Threatens Persistence and Completion for Low-Income Community College Students Over the last three decades, college tuition and fees have increased nearly four times faster than median income and four-and-a-half times faster than inflation. The rapid increase in college costs and flat or reduced funding in student aid has resulted in sizable unmet need and has forced students -- particularly low-income students -- to borrow more, work more hours, take fewer courses, or in some cases, drop out altogether. Unmet need and student loan debt for students at high-cost institutions have attracted widespread public attention. Less attention has been paid to unmet need at community colleges, where 41 percent of all undergraduates living in poverty are enrolled, according to the most recent data available (2007-2008). Download PDF
• Apr 09, 2013  |  Jodie Levin Epstein and Dr. Eileen Appelbaum Interview Protocol for MA Business Interviews on Earned Paid Sick Time Surveys of employers about their sick days' practices and about their views regarding a new law can be helpful in a city or state campaign. We were asked by Massachusetts' advocates to come up with this survey tool. We hope advocates will adapt it to suit their particular needs. Download PDF
• Mar 20, 2013  |  Jodie Levin-Epstein Business Voices: Implementation of Sick Days Laws is Straightforward Around the nation, city councils and state legislatures are increasingly considering legislation to establish a sick days' law. Employers, particularly those who are not familiar with sick days' policy, are leery of administering it. For some, this worry leads them to oppose passage of legislation. However, in locations where laws are already implemented, many businesses have stepped forward to acknowledge that administering sick days' policy is actually pretty simple. Download PDF
• Mar 20, 2013  |  Child Care and Early Education U.S. Head Start by the Numbers 2011 This fact sheet presents Head Start PIR data for all Head Start programs in the country -- including preschool programs, Early Head Start, and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start. Download PDF
• Mar 01, 2013  |  CLASP and ASBC Better Businesses and Better Workplaces: The Role of Comprehensive Business Certification Increasingly, businesses are seeking out certifications as tools to assess their impact and verify that their practices are consistent with their values. For job quality advocates, who are increasingly recognizing the crucial role of business support in successful campaigns, both certifying organizations and certified businesses can be valuable partners. This issue brief provides job quality advocates with a primer on the nuts and bolts of the certification movement and suggests ways advocates can foster fruitful relationships between the movements. Download PDF
• Feb 07, 2013  |  Liz Ben-Ishai Business Support for the Family and Medical Leave Act The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which enables workers to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid job-protected leave to care for their own serious illness, a sick family member, or to bond with a new baby, has been used by millions of workers since its passage in 1993. As this important piece of legislation celebrates its 20th anniversary, new data shows that the vast majority of businesses find administering the law easy, and 80 percent of small businesses favor the legislation. But the data also point to a pressing need for paid leave programs, like those in California and New Jersey. In those states, family leave insurance programs have made it possible for employees to take paid family leave, easing the financial burden of caring for oneself and one's family. Research shows that businesses in California have found the state's Paid Family Leave (PFL) program to be good for or have little effect on business. This brief from CLASP demonstrates business support for both the FMLA and paid family leave, while highlighting the pressing need for paid leave. Download PDF
• Dec 19, 2012  |  CLASP and ZERO TO THREE Expanding Access to EHS: Illinois Child Care Initiative The Illinois Child Care Collaboration Program promotes collaboration between child care and other early care and education providers, including Early Head Start (EHS), by creating policies to ease blending of funds to extend the day or year of existing services. While no funding is provided through the initiative, participating programs may take advantage of several child care rule exceptions that make it easier to access child care subsidy dollars to extend the day/year of EHS services. Download PDF
• Dec 19, 2012  |  CLASP and ZERO TO THREE Expanding Access to EHS: Illinois Prevention Initiative The Illinois Prevention Initiative provides grants to home-based and center-based programs to expand access to the Early Head Start (EHS) model as well as other birth to 3 models. The goal is to serve additional children birth to age 3 and help grantees increase program quality. The initiative to expand access to EHS and other models was established by the Illinois State Board of Education in 2007, as recommended by the Illinois Early Learning Council. Download PDF
• Dec 19, 2012  |  CLASP and ZERO TO THREE Expanding Access to EHS: Kansas Initiative Kansas Early Head Start (KEHS) provides comprehensive services following federal Head Start Program Performance Standards for pregnant women and eligible families with children from birth to age 4. KEHS was implemented in 1998 using Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) quality set-aside dollars augmented by a transfer of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds. The initiative was designed to improve the availability and quality of child care for infants and toddlers in Kansas. Download PDF
• Dec 19, 2012  |  CLASP and ZERO TO THREE Expanding Access to EHS: Maine Initiative Maine has two initiatives that build on Early Head Start (EHS). The first initiative, Fund for a Healthy Maine, provides tobacco settlement money to existing Head Start and EHS programs to expand the number of children who receive full-day, full-year services. The second initiative, Supplemental, provides state general revenue funds to all Head Start programs to add additional slots, some of which may be used for EHS. Download PDF
• Dec 19, 2012  |  CLASP and ZERO TO THREE Expanding Access to EHS: Maryland Initiative Since 2000, Maryland has provided state supplemental funds to Head Start and Early Head Start (EHS) programs to improve access. Local EHS programs may use funds, through child care partnerships, to extend the EHS day or year. Download PDF
• Dec 19, 2012  |  CLASP and ZERO TO THREE Expanding Access to EHS: Minnesota Initiative Minnesota provides supplemental state funding to existing federal Head Start and Early Head Start (EHS) grantees to increase their capacity to serve additional infants, toddlers, and pregnant women. The initiative was started in 1997 when the state legislature earmarked $1 million of the general state Head Start supplemental funds for children birth to age 3. Download PDF
• Dec 19, 2012  |  CLASP and ZERO TO THREE Expanding Access to EHS: Missouri Initiative Missouri's Early Head Start/Child Care Partnership Project expands access to Early Head Start (EHS) services for children birth to age 3 by developing partnerships between federal Head Start, EHS contractors, and child care providers. Head Start and EHS contractors that participate in the initiative provide services through community child care providers to both increase the number of children receiving EHS services and improve the overall quality of care. Download PDF
• Dec 19, 2012  |  CLASP and ZERO TO THREE Expanding Access to EHS: Nebraska Initiative Since 1999, Nebraska's Early Head Start Infant/Toddler Quality Initiative has supported Early Head Start (EHS) and community child care partnerships to improve the quality and professionalism of infant and toddler care. EHS programs apply to receive funding to establish partnerships with center-based or home-based child care. Download PDF
• Dec 19, 2012  |  CLASP and ZERO TO THREE Expanding Access to EHS: Oklahoma Initiative The Oklahoma Early Childhood Program uses public and private funds to enhance and expand high quality early care and education opportunities for children birth through age 3. The George Kaiser Family Foundation initiated the pilot in 2006 by matching state general revenue with private donations. Since that time, other private funders and providers have begun to contribute matching funds. Download PDF
• Nov 14, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit Early Head Start Participants, Programs, Families and Staff in 2011 This fact sheet reviews the 2011 Program Information Report (PIR) data for the Early Head Start program, which serves children under age 3 and pregnant women. In 2011, Early Head Start continued to provide vital services to a diverse group of low-income children and families. However, only about 4 percent of eligible children receive Early Head Start services. Download PDF
• Nov 14, 2012  |  Stephanie Schmit Head Start Participants, Programs, Families and Staff in 2011 This fact sheet reviews the 2011 Program Information Report (PIR) data for the Head Start preschool program, which serves children ages 3 and 4. In 2011, Head Start continued to provide vital services to a diverse group of low-income children and families. However, only 42 percent of eligible children receive Head Start preschool services. Download PDF
• Oct 01, 2012  |  Child Care and Early Education Tennessee: Monitoring and Technical Assistance System In Tennessee, safety concerns along with increasing need among low-income, working families for quality child care, prompted the state to revamp its monitoring system and enact other licensing reforms. The state has worked to strengthen its child care licensing rules, as well as implement a policy that increased the frequency of inspections to better monitor providers and required annual evaluations of providers to improve the quality of care. Read Online
• Sep 18, 2012  |  Marcie W.M. Foster and Jackie Taylor Adult Education Promotes Economic Opportunity, Creates Stable Families and Makes America More Competitive Nearly 30 million adults in the U.S. have below a high school education and over 24 million have English language training needs. Even for those adults with a high school diploma, basic skills deficiencies have a detrimental and long-lasting impact on our nation's families and economic growth. Adult education (Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Title II of the Workforce Investment Act) plays a critical role in the economic opportunity of over two million adult learners each year who use these services to earn a high school equivalency, increase basic and employability skills, or improve their English language proficiency. Fully investing in adult education and reforming the program to meet the needs of today's workers will help workers and their families build a better economic future for themselves and the nation. Download PDF
• Sep 18, 2012  |  Child Care and Early Education Minnesota: R.E.E.T.A.I.N. Bonus Program Minnesota’s Retaining Early Educators Through Attaining Incentives Now (R.E.E.T.A.I.N.) bonus program encourages and rewards well-trained child care professionals who stay in the field by awarding them with a monetary bonus. The R.E.E.T.A.I.N. program recognizes the importance of offering incentives to child care providers as encouragement to stay and advance in the profession. Read Online