Allyx Schiavone had intended to start a new elementary school in New Haven, Connecticut, until she listened to her community and saw the need for an early childhood education center.
In this episode, she talks about partnering with local Quakers to form the Friends Center for Children. Allyx is the executive director of the center, which is supported by a comprehensive emotional wellbeing program and made accessible with sliding scale tuition.
Allyx also serves as the co-chair of the Child Care for Connecticut’s Future Coalition, representing partners working to increase public funding for early care and education across the state. She has 30 years of experience as a teacher and administrator in Connecticut and New York.
In this episode, she shares her expertise on government incentives in child care and talks about some big things she’s doing, including providing housing to her child care center's employees.
To learn more about Allyx and the work she's doing, visit friendscenterforchildren.org or just Google her name!
Allyx Schiavone had intended to start a new elementary school in New Haven, Connecticut, until she listened to her community and saw the need for an early childhood education center.
In this episode, she talks about partnering with local Quakers to form the Friends Center for Children. Allyx is the executive director of the center, which is supported by a comprehensive emotional wellbeing program and made accessible with sliding scale tuition.
Allyx also serves as the co-chair of the Child Care for Connecticut’s Future Coalition, representing partners working to increase public funding for early care and education across the state. She has 30 years of experience as a teacher and administrator in Connecticut and New York.
In this episode, she shares her expertise on government incentives in child care and talks about some big things she’s doing, including providing housing to her child care center's employees.
To learn more about Allyx and the work she's doing, visit friendscenterforchildren.org or just Google her name!
Welcome to the Childcare Business Podcast, brought to you by ProCare Solutions. This podcast is all about giving Childre, preschool, daycare, afterschool, and other early education professionals, a fun and upbeat way to learn about strategies and inspiration you can use to thrive. You'll hear from a variety of childcare thought leaders, including educators, owners, and industry experts on ways to innovate, to meet the needs of the children you serve. From practical tips for managing operations to uplifting stories of transformation and triumph, this podcast will be chock full and insights you can use to fully realize the potential of your childcare business. Let's jump in.
Speaker 2:You know, like always wanna welcome everybody back to the Childcare Business Podcast. Uh, it's good to have you with us again today and excited about today's guest. Um, we're thrilled to have Alex. And I'm gonna, Alex, really quick ask you to confirm that I say this right. Is it Shaone ? Am I saying that right? Shi
Speaker 3:Shaone . Si
Speaker 2:Shaone , yeah . She is with us. Alex is the Executive Director of the Friends Center for Children in New Haven, Connecticut , uh, which is an early childhood education center rooted in Quaker values. Um, the center is supported by a comprehensive emotional wellbeing program and made accessible with sliding scale tuition. Uh, Alex also serves as the co-chair of the childcare for Connecticut's Future Coalition, representing partners working to increase public funding for early childcare and education across the state. Uh, she's got 30 years of experience as a teacher and administrator in Connecticut and New York. So she's a wealth of knowledge. We're excited about what she's gonna be able to talk about today. And , uh, Alex, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thanks, Brian . It's really nice to be here. 30 years. You're making me sound very old there, but
Speaker 2:Yeah. 30, 30 years That, that is 30 plus.
Speaker 3:30 plus, 30
Speaker 2:Plus years . So, so that, that's actually a great segue cuz you were saying before we started recording , um, you're like a podcast like phenomenon. This is your fourth podcast Yeah . Of the week.
Speaker 3:That's, that's a misrepresentation. It's <laugh>, it's a , it's been a fierce falling of PO podcast this week, so. Yeah .
Speaker 2:Well , it's , it's an important , it's important topics . And I think, you know, I'm excited about some of the stuff that you're gonna talk about today, but maybe start going back to your comment a moment ago about your 30 years of experience. Talk about Alex then, I guess 31 years ago, <laugh> and progress. Like, how did you get into the space? What was that trajectory?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so , um, I, I always say that I come by this work really honestly. Um, meaning it's, it's an innate Dr . Drive for me. So , um, I grew up with opportunities that were wonderful with regard to education. I had amazing teachers and it's really what saved me , um, because the rest of my life and other areas of my life were not safe. And especially in my youngest years. So in that zero to five range, when I am now as a older , uh, experienced woman, I can look back and I see that space and time and what those educators did for me. And I know that I would be a different person , um, if I didn't have that support. So , when I was about 15 or 16, which is really when I started working with children. So when I sort of got into that, my very first job has , you know, was with children working at day camp, you know, this the , the typical trajectory. I really made a commitment at that point that I knew I wanted to start a school and I knew I wanted to be working with children. And I, the reason w for me was that I wanted to create a space that was safe. And I wanted to create a space that had the people had voice, and especially the children had voice. And over the years, that has really evolved , um, in terms of training a community that has voice. And so all the constituents , um, that are part of our community at Friend Center , we really work hard to ensure that we are creating opportunities for voice. So I came to this work with that passion and drive, and it was , um, you know, it's, it really wasn't altruistic. It was really about my need to create space for myself that was safe. And as a result, now that I'm on other side of it, I can now do that for others.
Speaker 2:Can I ask, I do want to hear more about just kind of then the progression into, you know, your role now Yeah . And that you're running. But when you talk about as a young child, zero to five, and Yeah . You know, early years you talk about feeling safe, but also having a voice. Those two things go hand in hand , meaning, yeah . In order for a student in your experience to feel safe, they have to have a voice. And is it fair to say a child that feels like they have a voice then will naturally feel safe? Do tho are those connected?
Speaker 3:Uh, that's a good , I I believe so. I think it's, so when we say voice, I think it, it , you can, you can look at children who don't have a voice yet, and they still need to have a voice. And so what does that look like? It's that you're honoring them, you're honoring their, their race, their gender, their , um, development at that time, right? So you're creating a space where they can see themselves and then it's basic safety. Like, are they fed? Are they housed, are they treated well? Are they , uh, respected in terms of whatever developmental stage they're going through? Um, are we giving 'em the supports they need? So voice can mean a literal voice, like the way that when we get the verbal speaking, but it can also mean, am I , am I in a space where I am seen , heard and valued
Speaker 2:Amazing. And you in early days for you, yeah . Obviously I didn't , that impacted everything for you going to a place where your teachers and your school provided that type of setting. Yeah .
Speaker 3:And I think that's true for a lot of children who have home lives that are not , uh, where we would want them to be or where I wanted it to be. But I , you know, where now I can see for other children that it's not there. And it's, it's a product of really thinking about early care and education, not just as the direct service that we're providing for the child, but one of the reasons I love the work that I get to do is that you're actually thinking about the family unit and the things that sur surround that family. You mentioned our emotional wellbeing program. We did that because we know that a child is only as successful as its family unit in those really early ages, right? So we're giving that support not just to the child, but to the family . So if they need food, then we're figuring out how to get them food. If they need housing, we're thinking about how do we find housing for them ? All those things come into play , um, in the early, in the early care and education world.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That kind of expands the, you know, the scope and the impact. You know , when you look at our industry and you look at, you know, what owners and providers and, you know, e c e professionals kind of pour into what we always think is children, there's this holistic approach. It's actually coming alongside and partnering with
Speaker 3:Families , with the families. Yes, absolutely. For, for many reasons. I mean , uh, and if you think about it, it's a very rare, intimate look into family life when in our society, when you get into the school age range, you start going to school on a bus or you start walking to school and parents are not coming into the school. Whereas in our industry, in that zero to five range, you're seeing that family every day , twice a day. So you can pick up a lot interactions, conversations, the way they look, the way they act. But you have no idea. I mean , I've taught in the elementary grades, it's completely different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're right. I mean, early care has a unique perspective in that way. Yeah. Like you said, you actually get to see students in the classroom, behaviors, things that are coming out, but then you connect dots with, oh, that might be why certain things are happening when you see parents and interact. And so that, that brings up a good conversation about, I I wanna go back to just kind of getting to where you are in your career right now. Sure . Yeah . So knowing that you wanted to start a school knowing that you wanted to be involved in these early years of development for children, how did you get to the current role that you're in? And, and can you talk a little bit about , um, your current program and the school that you run and, and Sure.
Speaker 3:So , um, one of the things that I think , uh, has made me who I am is that my educational experiences were really strong, but they were also , uh, geared towards , uh, progressive side of the education scale. So with that in mind, I really had this amazing opportunity when I continued my, when I got outta college, I went to Bank Street College of Education , um, for my graduate work. And so I have a dual degree in elementary ed and early care and education. And so I've taught from birth, like, you know, infant, toddler classroom all the way up to sixth grade. And really understanding that continuum and the, and the , um, movement from infant toddler into the elementary ages. And the , and the , and the impact that that has has been really , um, transformational in terms of the work that I try to do on the early end. But how I got here , um, was really that drive and that interest of starting a school and wanting a partner. So when I, I had this sort of vision, I was gonna start this school and I had thought of , always thought of as an elementary school because that sort of felt easy for me. Comfortable. Like it was just a space that was other people were doing and I could model it after something else. And then the Quakers, where I'm from, new Haven, Connecticut. And so the Quakers here, which is , um, uh, were interested in doing something for the community. They're very community focused . And so they were gonna start a school, they said. And so we met, I was pregnant with my son at the time, who's now 21, just to give you an idea of how long ago that was. And , um, they were said, we're gonna , we wanna start a school. And I , I said , I wanna start a school. So we came together and they knew nothing about education and I knew nothing about Quaker. So it was a perfect opportunity for us both to grow. Um, fast forward , I had two babies, <laugh> , five years later they were then ready and I was ready to really do this in earnest. And we then went out to the community and said, what do you, what do you think? This is what we wanna do. And they said, we don't need another school. We need childcare. We need an educational space for our infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. And just like most of the country , uh, Connecticut has a huge gap in services. Um, so New Haven where I live is a childcare desert. 51% of our state, I mean , our country is a childcare desert. Um, so it was an easy switch for us to recognize this is really what the community needs we should be doing. We should be meeting that need, not our own, you know, assumptions. And that's really how I came into the early care and education. So ,
Speaker 2:Yeah . Amazing . I How did you go about engaging your community? I think that's an amazing concept. You know, a lot of times people have a vision, and this is a passion that I have and this is what I wanna do in the community, but sometimes that can be disconnected, I think from maybe what the specific needs of that community . What did that look like for you guys practically? Yeah . How did you gauge the community interest?
Speaker 3:So, so to be fair, I think we had a head start , meaning I'm a third generation New Haven, right? So, okay . And then the Quakers have been here for many, many years and had their meeting house , um, which is equivalent of a church. So there was some roots there, but practically what it looked like was listening, right? Yeah . It was creating opportunities and having conversations and not coming in with, here's what we're doing. It was what are your needs as a family, family unit? What are your needs for your children? And , um, it was, it just rose to the top in every, every, every demographic. And we were very conscious about who we spoke with, meaning we had people , um, who feel like they have a voice, an agency over their life are going to be the first to speak, right ? So how do you find the voices and the people who feel that they're often, you know, over , uh, marginalized or under-resourced or overburdened. So we spent a lot of time going to other churches and going to , um, supermarkets and going to places that people would sort of frequent as part of their routine instead of making them come to us. I think that's a really critical piece when you're trying to get community engagement and then finding people. So you can't see me cuz we're on a podcast, but I , I identify as, you know, female and I'm white. And so we had to find people who were non-white to go into communities so that they could have authentic conversations as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And not just be representing one group Yeah. Or one, you know, cohort in the, in the community. You wanted it to be holistic and Yeah . And represent what the community needed. So, so from there, you guys decided to start the friend center. Yes . Correct. Yes . And I'm sure it took some time. Was there a physical structure already that you guys repurposed? Or did you just kind of going back to the beginning, did you build from this ?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I feel like everyone who's listening knows this, that every, I , I mean, honestly, I , I wish there was a sta statistic on this, but every early care and education program starts in the basement of a church. Right . <laugh> . That's just our world. Yeah . I mean, cuz how else can you do it? You have to partner with someone who's gonna give you free space. Yeah . Because economically and fiscally it , it doesn't make sense. Our, our field , our industry. So that's what we did. We started in the basement of the meeting house , um, with four children. And, you know, it quickly grew to 20 and we outgrew the space. And so we were , we knew we had to build a building , um, if we wanted to grow. And fiscally, it's really also, you know, in our industry you need an economy of scale. So we had to get to a larger size so that we could afford the type of quality that we wanted to provide, because you need more income to be able to have those resources and services. So we decided we were gonna grow and , uh, we searched all around the city for land. And I mean, like a lot of places it just, you just can't find it, especially in cities. Right. So, and we look to rent and it just doesn't make fiscal sense to rent. You end up paying the per child cost so much higher when you're renting versus when you own. So we had this , um, two year , three year process of trying to find space and then the Quakers came to us and said , um, you can build on our land. Okay . And so we got, you know, we got land, we rented it from them, but we, it's really, it's, to be honest, it's a dollar a year. So we had a really amazing opportunity. So then we had to find the money and so we partnered with the state. Um, most states have opportunities for nonprofits, for capital infrastructure. And they agreed to basically do , um, just under 50% of the cost. It was about a 4.5 million building. And they, you know, came up with almost half. And then we had to fundraise for the rest. So we became grant writers and we became advocates and we became, you know, connected to philanthropists. And that is how we really made it happen. It was a long campaign.
Speaker 2:Yeah. No, you know, it's amazing. People think in early education, you know, you're just a teacher. But, you know, even in the first few minutes of this conversation we're like social workers, they're , you're teachers . You gotta be like, like grant writers. You gotta understand politics, local politics team , you gotta be able to sell because you gotta convince people to get on board . Yeah . Did you, going to the state, you mentioned that most states have resources to help nonprofits. It that , was that just a learning experience for you and your team to figure out how do we go find resources to help us with this? There's no like playbook that everybody uses and opens up like, Hey, this is how I go find money for a childcare
Speaker 3:Center. Right. So I'll say , um, I mean as, as a , I'm happy to be a resource. So if we, if anyone's listening and they wanna hear sort of how it worked for us, we're happy to share experience. And the answer to your question is, there is no easy pathway. Like it's gotten easier actually, I think after covid, one thing that has happened that I've noticed is they have streamlined different policies and procedures and systems, at least in Connecticut. And , um, it's certainly a lot easier than it was when we did it in 20 13, 20 12. So 10 years later. Um, so that should be true everywhere. <laugh> , you would hope infrastructure sort of improves in that way. But , um, there's different, it's different parts of money. So the , the , the funding that we're talking about is something called bond funds. And that really comes from a different place than your operating your state sort of everyday funds. Because the state everyday funds, and this is happening in our state , um, they're just claiming there , there aren't any. Right. And I say claiming because we are managing right now this new concept in the state of Connecticut, which is similar to what the federal government is doing where they have cap spending. Right. So there are funds and we actually in Connecticut have a surplus that we most, we've had in years, but we can't spend it because the legislation legislators have capped it. Got it . So we can't invest in early care and education in the way that we should, like other states are doing because of this cap. So we're in a very precarious place. And that's what's happening at the federal level too, in the house right now,
Speaker 2:That there's money there, but based on caps and limits Yes . And other legislation, it's not accessible at the <crosstalk> . Correct . Correct . And and I know , and I know that's been a big push. I mean that, that's probably a good segue too on some of the topics that Sure. You wanna talk about. I, I know through the experiences that you just talked about and your history of kind of learning how to go about building this program, a lot of that has crossed into government knowledge, like government funding, both at the state and the federal level. But one of the things that, as we go through the progress of friend center in the things that I've read, Alex, and, and the work that you've done in recent years, you've shifted, correct me if I'm wrong, so fact check me on this. Sure . There's, there was a piece of getting the center off the ground and, and bringing children in and partnering with families. But you've also identified other needs around, like your staff Yeah . And some of the limitations that, you know, or constraints that have caused challenges for the center about staffing and, and their pay. Yeah . And then even family, like equal pay for families or at least affordable childcare for families. Yeah . And how to combat that in, in your community. Maybe starting with the employee side. Can you talk , I'm
Speaker 3:Glad you gave me a starting point cuz there's like
Speaker 2:There a lot,
Speaker 3:Right ? 15 on ramps right there. <laugh>.
Speaker 2:There is. And I , so I wanna talk about the employee piece cause I think this is innovative and unique. Yeah . And rightfully so. I've seen a lot of press about this on what you guys are doing. Can you talk about how you guys approach your staffing and some of the challenges and what you're doing?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I think that there's a universal aspect to staffing for early care and education, right? And this is true in any state, anywhere you hear about it. Um, we are 92% female across the country. Um, that's similar in Connecticut. We are , um, you know, overburdened, under-resourced, marginalized, we're disproportionately female as I just uh , mentioned. I mean, we're proport mostly female disproportionately women of color in these spaces. So historically we have been underpaid , um, in 41 states we're paying women to live in poverty is basically the statistic when you think about it. That's really, really disturbing. Right? Very disturbing . I mean, just unbelievable. So in Connecticut we rank 36 in terms of cost of living in the way that we pay our early care and education teachers we're very low. So the equation and the way that it works in our industry is that we're trying to operate in a free market system, right? So normally like we have a service, which is we provide early care education and we should be able to charge the client, which is the parent, what it costs to provide that service. But our parents can't afford it. Mm . So what happens is, a lot of us, and this is friend center included, we have an operational gap every year. So we have to fundraise, right? You either fundraise or you cut expenses. Those are the two options that you have. And so we talk about how we don't have a subsidized system, like in our early care and education system across the country, but we really do, it's just subsidized on the back to the women who work in it. Interesting. Cause their , their pay is so low, it's subsidizing the system. So in what we're trying to do, and this is a lot of the work of the coalition work and what ET is that we're not gonna use that as a solution to the gap. So our salaries are $14,000 on average above the Connecticut average salaries. And what that means is we have a larger gap. So we have to go out and grant Right . And do the, and work with the , you know, I always joke that if you really, if people who are not in our industry, if you really wanted someone who could run a business , um, a for-profit or any other business, you'd take a childcare director. Because the fact that we can make it work means
Speaker 2:With all those limitations Oh
Speaker 3:My gosh. Yeah. Yeah . We , we are the, we're the best business operators there are. Cause we can do this and stay alive and afloat in an impossible situation.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So when we were doing that work, and when we made a commitment to that really , um, not doing the norm and not paying teachers, you know, what they are historically and societally paid , um, we realized we had to start thinking about how we were gonna increase salaries even more. So I I say we're like the best of the worst right now, right? Like, that was sort of where we started and we said, we need to get to better, we need to really think about how we're gonna do this. And so we started, we, I knew that we couldn't raise , um, uh, tuition anymore. And I knew I couldn't raise any more money. I mean, there is a limit. Like you can't put yourself in a position that's too precarious. Yeah . So we started thinking about how do we remove expenses as opposed to giving money to each teacher. And so we surveyed our teachers and at the time we had 28 teachers and only one of them owned their home. So the largest expense that all of them had was their rent. Mm-hmm . <affirmative> , first of all, let's talk about the fact that we have women who have been in this field. You know, I have 65 year old teachers who don't own their home .
Speaker 2:That don't own their home. That's an amazing statistic, right ? Like 28 teachers Yeah . Only one and 28 , only one own their home. And I wonder how representative that is Yeah . Across the industry. But based on what you're saying, many, many schools would probably find the same thing as they surveyed their, their staff .
Speaker 3:Yeah. Because we're , because we're paying people wages where they can't survive. Yeah . So, and a lot of them have their own children. I mean, they're a lot of single moms , um, in our population. Um, and that is because we're a care industry. So you're getting people who are coming from, you know, their own trauma, their own, I mean, I'm in perfect example. I came to this work because of the traumas that I experienced and wanted to create space, other space. So anyway, you have all that wrapped into it. So we realized we needed to think about how do we create opportunities to remove that expense. And so it became clear that we could purchase a home and provide free housing for a teacher, keep their salary where it was, and then give them free housing. So let's just, for example, say they were making, you know , um, a hundred dollars, that's their salary. And they're , it's not true, but you know what I mean. It's just , they're making a hundred dollars and now they're housing, they're making another a hundred dollars on top of it. So they're basically making $200 now. So we had salaries go from like 40,000 to 52,000. Right. And the salaried benefit, but it's not money that we have to lay out every year. So it became , um, much easier for me to go to a donor and say, would you help us buy a house where I can house a teacher from now until forever? I could for the next hundred years if we operated, we could put teachers in there to live versus will you give me $12,000 every year per teacher to raise their salary?
Speaker 2:Yeah. An easier conversation to ask for that one time donation , I would imagine it's, that's, that's untraditional and you unique in terms of that approach. So going to a , a donor and asking for, you know, residential property for this purpose, were you initially met with resistance? Like, that's crazy, that's not gonna work. Yeah . Or was it, did you find that the reception to it was , um, more open , uh, than that? It ,
Speaker 3:So I found it to be very open because it's a great return on investment. So most donors who have dollars who can afford a house, you know, to give us a house, are really looking at, is this the best use of my funds? What does this do? And so first it moves women out of poverty, right? I mean, so it's, that's really amazing . Second, it supports an organization like ours, which is doing really great work. So it , it supports children, right? That's really positive. Third, it's really trying to , um, change and think about the transfer of wealth in our country because the goal of this housing initiative is that we have this fiscal goal for the teacher, but we want them to then save money to own, to buy their own home. That is the purpose of this pathway, right? In addition to all the things I mentioned. So, and then the last thing, which I think is where the savvy and the fiscal side comes in, is it makes more sense for them to give us money that we can have a return on the investment in perpetuity than giving us money for a one year return
Speaker 2:For a one year return. And when you talk about return on investment, are you also talking about, you know, gains in the community? Like you're gonna produce better results for this family who then gonna co contribute to the community and they're gonna invest and their kids are gonna do well? And that, is that something you guys have been doing long enough where you can actually point to data points yet ? Yeah . And say, look at the return on what this house has done, or is it still too early to have data surrounding that?
Speaker 3:So the, the, it , we , it's too early for us to have data. We've been doing this for two years. It's all anecdotal at this point, right? Mm-hmm . <affirmative> , we have , um, four women living in houses. We'll have six in the fall, and between them they have , um, six ch four women and five children. And then we'll have two more move in. I'm not sure which ones will be in that house, but that's really remarkable. So you have
Speaker 2:That is
Speaker 3:Six single moms, like living in spaces that they otherwise didn't have access to that alone Right. Is is pretty profound. The , the thing, the research that we point to is, which is great, is research that we don't have to do because it's been done by Dr. Heckman. And , um, you know, the re the return on investment with regard to early care and education and the work that we do and how it impacts communities has been done by that Nobel Prize winner. The housing piece has not been done. So we have to figure that out. Mm-hmm . <affirmative> , but we use that , um, analogy and, and data often to, to speak to donors and to speak to the state. So we use that a lot and I recommend that. So , um, Dr. Heckman from University of Chicago.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's amazing. Is it, does it feel two years in for you guys? Does it feel, number one, it's amazing what you're doing. Thank you . And just the impact you have to those individuals lives. I imagine that's Yeah . Life changing and transformative for them. Does it feel, at this point for you, does that feel sustainable? Like meaning this is truly something that we can continue to do it , but maybe even expand to all our staff who need it at some point? Or does it feel like you're kind of hanging on and not sure how far we can take
Speaker 3:This? No, it's absolutely sustainable. Um, we, we, we've, we did the pilot part, which was the first year , uh, we then moved into the second year. I mean, it's, we're , we've , we will be doing this. Um, that's a commitment we're making. And it's not a head , it's not a huge lift. Right. That's , it's , it's, it's really manageable. Um, it, it creates so many opportunities in so many different ways also for community , um, right. For us to just really think about we're, we're now just not a school in the community. We actually have houses in the community, so we have neighbors in different ways and people that we connect with , um, which is pretty , um, it , it speaks to our values and our mission and what we're trying to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So we definitely just , you asked a question though that I think is important. We actually do not see this as an initiative where every member of our community would have housing. We really frame this as an equity initiative, which means that , um, we're really looking at people who need it the most. So for someone who has this, give you an example. They , they work at our school, but they ha they're a two parent household or a two income household, and they, they're combined, they make $200,000 a year. That person would not qualify for housing. Sure . Or if they did, if we want, if we had enough units and we decided that would be something we would do , they would ch they would be charged a , a rent based on their income.
Speaker 2:Got it. And it would just use a sliding scale Yes . Based on their situation and figuring out the right fit . So you guys have addressed, which I love this staffing piece, which is a really, maybe it's unique and creative way to solve that, that pay gap that you referenced. And , and you know, again, I think one of the statistics you said earlier that's so striking that I think when people hear this will put it in perspective, is 41% or 41 of the states pay childcare staff Yeah . A wage that puts them under the poverty line. That's crazy to me. And so you guys are addressing that staffing piece. The other thing that I saw that you do at friend center is on the parent side addressing, you know , the , the amount that they can afford to pay for tuition. Yeah . Can you, can you speak about that 12% rule ? I think it's a 12% rule I saw . Yes . Yeah . And how that works too.
Speaker 3:Sure. So , um, this, this goes back to our founding and our roots and our, and our, we're a mission driven organization. So when you have a mission driven organization, and especially with a board that is really committed to that, you make decisions , um, that are , uh, a , a product or a living organism, you know, part of that mission, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> . So it's, it's different than decisions based on , um,
Speaker 2:Revenue
Speaker 3:Licensing or standards, right? Yeah . Like, we still keep that all in consideration. But we may do something like this housing initiative where we don't know how it's gonna go. Right. We try it out. Yep . And that is one of the reasons why I love where I am. Right. That is a very different way of thinking. And it's okay if you fail. If you fail, it's a learning. Right. And that's what we try to teach the children in our class. Yeah . And that's how we, you know, in our, in our, in our program and that's how we approach parents. Like try different things on, like, it's okay if you , um, are attempting to do something that doesn't quite go the way you thought it would be. Like, what did we learn? How do we move forward? So we try to model that. Um, but it , but in terms of the sliding scale , so because of that mission of really wanting to have families from really different socioeconomic backgrounds come together, and that's a very Quaker mindset too. It's a mission to say we wanna reflect the community that we're in. And where we are in New Haven, we are very diverse. We have a large socioeconomic range in New Haven, you've got Yale University, right? You've got everything that's associated with that. And then you've got new havens, like new people who've been here their whole life who are not associated with the university. And then you've got extremely wide , um, socio , uh, racial and ethnic , uh, group. So New Haven is really like a third Latinx, a third Caucasian, and a third African-American. So that's our mission too. Like, we wanna be reflective of that. And we have done that so far. But with regard to finances, like we had to figure out if we want a mixed socioeconomic group, we have to create a policy and a system that will get there. Right? So we looked at creating this sliding scale. So we have families, if you have zero income, and the way you would have zero income is , um, you , maybe you're , uh, you've just lost your job or you are in a, a school program, or you're, you know, reentry after being incarcerated type thing. You may be unhoused. You've just, you know , so that , and so you pay nothing. I mean, cuz if you have zero income, 12% of zero is zero. Yeah . And then if you make , um, uh, the , the , the issue is there's a cap on the other end. So we have full pay. We don't say if you make 500,000, you do , we do 12%, we cap it at 22,000 for our infant solvers. So we have people everywhere between zero and 22,000 on our scale. And what happens is we, we partner that with the state , uh, federal and local subsidies. Right? So it's, I mean this is, this is the genius I will say of childcare directors. They can take 17 different, I'm making that up. But , uh, for us it's six different funding streams and make it work. Right. And it's, it's unnecessary and we need to change that in the system, but that's what we do. So we have this sliding scale that acts as our backbone, and then we fill in with these subsidies to be able to have families , um, from all different socioeconomic backgrounds.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's literally a puzzle when you start talking about all those different factors and then, you know, obviously the community focused mindset of wanting to incorporate that diversity. So you're, you guys are constantly Yeah . It's another
Speaker 3:Puzzle.
Speaker 2:Yeah . It's all of those pieces together. You , you know, you bring up a good point about state and federal funding cuz subsidies and, you know, funding in general I think have taken a lot of , um, have been in the spotlight a little bit over the past couple years coming out of Covid and, you know, a lot of the , um, you know, sustainability grants and build back. That was one of the things that I know on our agenda to talk about. I, I , if I'm not mistaken, build back better failed. Like, I , can you talk about like what you guys have been involved in in terms of funding, what bills are relevant to the industry even now? And, and kind of how you view the current, you know, landscape of both state and federal funding?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so disappointment of Build Back better was huge. I mean, for our industry, right? That that would've been transformational change. And the last time that happened, it's actually was Nixon who vetoed it. So if you think about 50, wow . You know, 52 years ago, whatever that was, 50 , uh, it just remarkable that it takes us that long as a country and, you know, to , to really recognize and understand and make a push for our industry.
Speaker 2:Can can you speak really great ? I didn't mean to interrupt you, but when you say transformational in terms of how you understand or understood, build back better? Yeah, sure. Have worked. Could you maybe elaborate on that?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so the , the, the piece with Build Back better, that really, I mean, it was, it's so comprehensive. It was everything. But it, the main thing was you're creating opportunities for equitable compensation. So you're taking our industry and you're doing pay parity to public schools. So that alone just sort of creates , um, a d a different landscape completely. You can attract people, you can retain them , you know, you can get better quality people who wanna go to school because now they can make a livable degree, you know, all that stuff. So there's that side of it. Then they also capped parents. So the goal was to cap parent payments at 7% of income. So, and that's, and that's if you're a over a certain income. So I think it was up to 125, this , we should fact check that. But it's basically, let's say you're 125 or below, you pay nothing but 125,000 of household income and above you're only paying 7%. Huge adjustment. And we have, right now in Connecticut, people paying between 18 and 20% of their income , uh, for childcare. And that's nationally. It goes all the way up to 40% sometimes. Yeah . I mean, it's really absurd. So that was gonna do that. And then it was , um, also a mixed delivery system.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Meaning they were not trying to like, just make it a public school system. They were looking at home-based care and which is what the, what parents want, right? Yeah . It really was responsible . Yeah, exactly. Choice. Responding to their needs. I mean, you may wanna go to the woman who lives across the street from you, or you may want your , with three other children, or you may want your child in a program with a hundred kids. Like that should be up to you. So it was, it also built in some , um, incentives for businesses. So like, if, if you're opening a , um, biotech place and you were gonna put a, you would put a childcare, they would give you a tax incentive and 500,000 in cash kind . I mean, really great ways to, to figure out all the problems. Right? Right . That's what I mean by transformational. It wasn't just looking at one thing. It was looking at everything and changing it. And it failed because of , um, you know, they couldn't, they couldn't push it over the line, the finish line.
Speaker 2:They couldn't get it through. So where does that, does it, where does it stand now? Are there legislators and lobbyists still? I I , you know, I know some of the, the organizations that support our industry that are still really involved in, you know, kind of
Speaker 3:Advocacy. Yeah ,
Speaker 2:Yeah. Advocacy. That's a better word for the industry. Can you talk about where that's at and other things that are maybe stirring that you have your eyes on?
Speaker 3:Yeah. So to me, the most , um, impressive slash you know, exciting piece, if the build back better is not gonna be what it, what we want it to is really the , uh, Senator Patty Murray and the Working Families Act. Um, she's introduced that in both the House and the Senate. And I just wanna go on record and say, for those of you who don't know, but Patty is a former preschool teacher, so it makes sense that we have someone who is in this position of power who's trying to push this through year after, you know, this is her work because she knows what it was like. Right ?
Speaker 2:Yeah . And what state is she from? Patty Murray, I should know . Washington . Washington .
Speaker 3:You know, her work was really about, she was, she's pushing right now for the 7%, no family pays more than 7%. She's looking at really free childcare for most impoverished communities that need it. Um, the eligibility would be greatly expanded. So like anyone who hits a certain income level would have the opportunity to have care and find care. And then of course, the economic stability for teachers. It's really very similar to Build Back Better. Okay . It's just, you know , uh, uh, working Families Act. And I , I, I mentioned before that I got to do a press conference, but it was, it was really probably one of the pinnacle moments in my experience. I was invited to the State of the Union , uh, by Rosa Deloro, who's our, so when you talk about lobbying and advocacy , um, I, I joke it took me, what, 30 years to get invited to State of the Union because I'm a crazy person that runs around talking about childcare in every setting. Like, I'm not the one with the cats. I'm the one with like, oh, it's a childcare lady. Right? Yeah . <laugh> , it paid off. I got to go to the State of the Union address.
Speaker 2:There's a little video I know in my research for this. You got to shake hands with President Biden. Yes . Yeah . Yeah. You were there.
Speaker 3:I mean, how does that, that's
Speaker 2:Just , all right . I gotta , I gotta ask, what did you say? I know it was maybe a brief interaction, but
Speaker 3:What did I say to Biden?
Speaker 2:Yeah, what did you say to Biden and what did he say to you?
Speaker 3:Yeah , so I was with Rosa Deloro, who is just this, you know , um, fire plug of a woman. Like, you know, I'm following her around the capitol exhausted. And she's probably 20, 30, 30 years older than I am. Right. And, and , um, she's like, come on, we're gonna meet, we're gonna meet president. And I was like, what? We are, I mean, it was just such this, this moment of like, I felt giddy. Right. So, yeah . So , um, she pulls him over and the , he says he's, she's , she introduces me and says, <inaudible> , she's here for childcare . And he, he looks at me and said , I was afraid not to mention childcare in my speech cuz of people like, you know, like advocates like you. And he giggled and , uh, he didn't giggle. I giggled, he, he, he , he was very, and that was it. It was very quick. I mean, there's hundreds of people around him and they're trying to get him to not talk to anybody. So
Speaker 2:What , what an honor.
Speaker 3:Like three minutes. It was what a ,
Speaker 2:What a great honor. Yeah. That's
Speaker 3:Amazing . Yeah, it was really amazing. Yeah, it was really amazing. And then , um, but before that it experience, just to sort of add, this is showing what a geek I am by the way. Like, cuz I had to do this press conference and Bernie Sanders went before me. And so I was like, how does this happen? How do
Speaker 2:I follow up Bernie Sanders? Yeah , exactly . Excited , I'm excited to hear how this happens then . So you have this press conference. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well I just did it. I mean, I just get up there and told the story. I think, I think that's what I mean by when I come to the sea , honestly. Like all , all those of us who are doing this work are here because we are passionate. We, we're not here because this is easy. We're not here because , oh, this is something we should probably do <laugh> . It's like,
Speaker 2:Not , not here . Cause you're making all sorts of money. Yeah, exactly. You're
Speaker 3:Here because you see , um, how important this is mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so when you've come from that space, it's easy to talk about. Right.
Speaker 2:Do you think these things, you know, when you talk about, I know Friend Center is a nonprofit center. I , I , yeah . I also think, you know, a lot of our listeners are, are for-profit owners and administrators. Yeah . As you, as you look at some of this legislation, you look at some of the funding and the bills coming out and you look across the landscape, does a lot of the supply to the entire sector, do you think, is it both for-profit and nonprofit in terms how it'll impact, you know, the ability to operate? Because that's one of the things that, you know, when we look at the industry, there's the staffing challenges, there's the deserts that we have. Yeah . So in so many places across the country, and some of that goes back to if an , an entrepreneur and an educator and I see an opportunity is, is it sustainable for me to be able to come in and, and provide a great resource for my community, but also have the right business investment to make it make sense as well? Does does that make sense the question?
Speaker 3:No, I understand what you're saying. I think that, so I I, there's an , there's a fundamental underpinning in that question, which has to do with , um, is , is sort of the tension between an individual success versus a community success. Mm-hmm . So as a business person , and as , as someone who , uh, to answer this question specifically, you can absolutely go into a community and I think be successful from a business perspective and run a program that has a price point that can only cater to certain people. Hmm .
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And you can do, you can imagine that happening in places like New York. I mean, I ta I actually taught in a private early care and education program in New York. Um, one of my mentors was the director there and, you know, the , the cost, and they ma she made a lot of money. Right. It was absolutely possible, but it was catering to a very specific type of family.
Speaker 2:Right ? Yep .
Speaker 3:So is that what's best for the community and does that sustain the, the entire system across the state? No. So I think there's a little bit of a tension in that question with, for me, as someone who's doing the work I'm doing with regard to trying to create, lift all boats kind of thing, versus find a way to do the one, the one piece.
Speaker 2:Yeah , you're right . Yeah, you're right. That's a good way to to, that's a good way to state it. It's like, how do you define success and what is success for an individual, you know, center provider? What's the focus? I , I think that's a , a fair response. Do you see, I I , I see this last question here on the agenda , but I'm, I'm curious if you look down the, you know, into the future in terms of what you see, I mean, obviously, if I'm hearing you right, the need for government to step up and provide some additional resource and resources is extremely important for our industry to be able to move forward. Is that a fair statement? Uh ,
Speaker 3:Is it that is, you know, you could just scream that and that would be right. Yes, it is fair. It is, it is. We cannot continue on this trajectory in this way without federal government stepping in. And if you think about it, you know, I always think about it in terms of the evolution of change and how is a society, we, we think about how we move from one thing to another . At some point we did not think school, right? Was, was a public good, right? We didn't have people, we didn't have children in school at some point in our history. And so then we became like, oh yeah, it's a good idea. We should do this and we're gonna pay for it . We haven't made that mind shift yet for early care and education. And what's so surprising about that is how impactful that zero to five range is,
Speaker 2:Right? When you look at the data and statistics about, you know, impact that it has during those years Yeah.
Speaker 3:On human development. I mean, so your brain is developing more rapidly at that time of, of your life. And we didn't know that back then. So it makes sense. We didn't make that choice, but now we know it. So now we're in this position as a country, and when you talk about like, if we are, we do not invest within the next 10 years, we are ignoring what we know about human development, what we know about education, what we know about the return on investment with regard to early care and education. That to me really is more of a, like, shame on us than when you don't know. Right? Yeah . We know now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, now we know. And it does. Maybe it's because of the unique position that we're in, meaning us at ProCare myself, I get to talk to a lot of individuals in the industry, obviously from your perspective, but it does feel like that awareness is bubbling to the surface. It is .
Speaker 3:I agree.
Speaker 2:Like I'm hearing it more and more. You , you too.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And I think that has to do , um, by the way, we use ProCare too, but , um, thanks . Um, but , um, it, it is definitely , uh, more prevalent. So I, the way I describe it is I don't really have to make the argument anymore, especially at the legislative level or the , um, even the common, common level, what I would say, like the average person wasn't yet have children. It , I don't have to make the argument. I don't do as much of a hard sell, so to speak. And yet the response I get is, it's so expensive, right ? So , so we don't have the money. So now it's like we're aware, but we're not willing to put the dollars where we need them to be. And that's really what we need to look for over the next 10 years. And my advice to anybody who's in this industry listening and, and even organizations like yours, is how, what are we doing to, to bring our issues to the table? How are we getting into the rooms where the decisions are being made? How are we talking to our constituents? And so I always say to everybody, bring childcare to the table. Yeah . Any industry you're in, bring childcare to the table, talk about it, because that's what's gonna ha it . We have to provoke demand to make decision makers think differently and put the money where it needs to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I like that. I , and I do think, you know, maybe if there is a silver lining over, you know, what everybody, what the country, what the world went through in 2000, in 20 20, 20 21. Yeah . It does seem to me that the awareness of that piece, like with the government stepping in to provide stop gaps , to sustain and, you know, save the industry, there's become a , I think a better awareness from the typical owner out there that hey, it's important that our voices are heard so that we can continue to partner with state and federal government around sustainability for our families and our community . So I , I don't know if that's accurate or not, but from my position, yeah , it does just seem that there's more, maybe it's willingness for individuals to, to lean into, you know, advocacy groups Yeah . And what their state legislators are doing are not doing.
Speaker 3:Yeah. What's interesting, I mean, there's so many things that came out of covid that are trans that have just changed. Yeah . Our oper our our way of operating. Um, and I, I think what's what I think about it is look at what the government did when it wanted to Yeah . Like, we're about to fall, we're about to fall off as an industry, this , um, fiscal cliff because they're, they're removing all of our stabilization dollars, right. We , we don't have it anymore. What's gonna happen then? And so, like, you've already done this, we know you can do it. It's, it's, I always say that there's, finding the solution or knowing what to do is not the problem. It's the will to do it.
Speaker 2:Hmm .
Speaker 3:So that's where I agree with you. We are more interested in demanding that they do it as an industry and we have to keep doing that.
Speaker 2:And stabilization, a lot of the stabilization grants, like, it, it, that money expires September, if I'm not mistaken. Is that right ? Yeah . I mean , we're ,
Speaker 3:We're coming to the end as an industry of the thing that's keeping us alive.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So there's gonna be some urgency around Yeah . You know, solving for this. So if maybe as a, as a concluding point, Alex, for you, number one, if, if there's things that our listeners can be paying attention to, you know, I know you've mentioned what , um, Patty Murray's doing Yeah . And, you know, kind of keeping your eyes on that Yeah . But also places that you would recommend people look. And then maybe as a final piece, if, if any of our listeners did wanna connect with you or like, Hey Alex, I heard you on this podcast and I was really interested in what you said. How can people find you in terms of learning a little bit more about the work you're doing?
Speaker 3:Sure. So first I would say that it's , uh, and , and by the way, we're asking like an industry that is completely overburdened to take on one more thing, right ? So I wanna own that and acknowledge it and say the, the, I think the most effective , uh, way to create voice for yourself or find space is to really look at who your leadership is at the federal level. It , it can be state and local too, but really looking at the, you know, who you are. And there's a great tool , um, the first five years fund, so it's F F Y Y f.org . They have some great online tools for ca contacting your legislators, right? Because that's just the piece. And they're not used to hearing from people. So they may get five calls on a topic. And that's a lot. So if you can get just even your teachers and your community to call, like that's a lot. So I would say that's one way to do it. Invite them in August, they're all home, right? They sort of come back to their stomping grounds. So invite them out to your space, talk to 'em about the impossible situation you're in. Have a parent share about the , like those are the stories that will then repeat. Like, I've told stories to legislators that I hear them saying that on the floor. Right.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 3:That's great . So we've got , I mean, great way to, to do that. Um, in, of , um, reaching out to me , uh, you know, I'm at friend center for children.org. My first name is A L L Y X, so if you pipe pop that in, I'll come up on any Google search <laugh>
Speaker 2:And people can even see the video of you meeting Joe Biden. Oh
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's right. Yeah ,
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. It shows up.
Speaker 3:Ignore all the other stuff that's out there. Just look at that
Speaker 2:<laugh>. Yeah, just take Well, and we will, you know, all of the stuff that you just mentioned, Alex, we'll put that in the show notes , so the , the resource links and love the recommendation on reaching out to your federal representation. I , I love the idea, the little insider tip. They're gonna be home in August if you don't know that. Yeah. Um , they're outta session at that time. So that's a great opportunity to invite people out. And then obviously your contact information , uh, will include as well. And look, I really appreciate you taking the time. I know it sounds like it's been a busy week for you already, so we certainly appreciate you carving out an hour to spend with our audience. I think it's gonna be super helpful , uh, for our group. So , um, Alex Shvo , Shani .
Speaker 3:Shani , yes.
Speaker 2:Shani , I got it closer at the end. And , uh, the friend center , uh, in Connecticut. So much , uh, pleasure having you on the show.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks for having me. It was really fun.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to this episode of the Childcare Business Podcast. To get more insights on ways to succeed in your childcare business, make sure to hit subscribe in your podcast app so you never miss an episode. And if you want even more childcare, business tips, tricks, and strategies, head over to our resource center@procaresoftware.com. Until next time.