Corporate Champions for Children offer businesses the opportunity to enter into an enhanced network that provides employees with a cost-effective program of resources for daily child care and other work-life issues affecting families.
Employers, your network offers:
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Individualized, enhanced resources for employees seeking child care through a network of accredited and licensed providers;
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Resources to help employees address other work-life issues, including: respite care, tutoring, and summer care;
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Parenting programs;
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Tailored and continual training and mentoring for providers to improve the quality of child care available to your employees;
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Caregiver resources for employees that need back up, mildly ill care, in home child care, and off-hours care such as weekend and evenings.
As families are tightening their belts in preparation for tough economic times, quality early childhood programs are one of the few public investments that have continued to provide a consistent return-on-investment for every dollar spent.
According to Rebecca Parlakian of Zero to Three, a national nonprofit organization that informs, trains and supports professionals, policymakers and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers, economic studies suggest that the overall return on investment for early childhood development is 14 to 15 percent after adjusting for inflation. This rate is a higher rate of return than the average stock. These investments in early childhood programs make good economic sense for everyone involved – babies, families, business and the community as a whole.
Studies of programs that provide a high-quality pre-school education to children in lower income brackets show that the costs of the program are dwarfed by the benefits. Children who attend high-quality childcare programs are found to earn better wages once in the workforce, have fewer needs of special education services, and are less likely to utilize the welfare system or commit crimes.
In an article found on www.zerotothree.org, Parlakian showed that one study found that the return on investment was dramatic, and that every public dollar spent on the program saved $7.16.