If you”™ve ever rushed out of a meeting to field a phone call from a frantic school nurse or had to find a sitter for an impromptu weekend event, you know of the impact quality child care has on workplace productivity.
Though child care is one piece of the pie, Westchester Children”™s Association Executive Director Cora Greenberg called it “the poster child” of key issues affecting families and ultimately, the companies that employ them.
“There is a natural synergy between early childhood investment and broader societal interests and certainly business,” said Kathleen Halas, executive director of the Child Care Council of Westchester Inc. in Scarsdale. “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reported back in September that if we want to regain our competitive footing in the world”™s global economy, we have to do education really differently and we have to think about those early years and we”™re not doing that right now.”
On Friday, March 25, the Child Care Council, Westchester Children”™s Association and JPMorgan Chase will host a breakfast for business leaders at Westchester Community College”™s Gateway Center. The topic is “Supporting Westchester”™s Workforce of Today and Tomorrow: Early Childhood Education.”
Kim Jasmin, a Northeast regional director at JPMorgan Chase, will reference the importance of early childhood investment and its impact on the business community.
“We care about our customers,” said Dennis McDermott, vice president of community relations at JPMorgan Chase in White Plains. “If they”™re not able to be as fully productive because they”™re not engaged (because of issues stemming from child care), it”™s really a cascading effect.”
McDermott called having children of his own “an eye-opener that really changed my outlook on managing people.”
Halas remarked that corporations like IBM often “partner with nonprofit groups to develop early care and education settings.”
There is a need for a collaborative effort between the government, private business, educational institutions and nonprofit organizations.
The average annual cost of infant care in Westchester County is approximately $18,000, which Halas said many parents will “have trouble affording even if you make a decent income.”
Organizations like the Child Care Council, which rely on government dollars, have inevitably been touched by funding cuts and likewise, dollars are harder to raise and foundation grants are more competitive for the privately funded Westchester Children”™s Association.
Last year, the Child Care Council of Westchester received 3,882 requests for child care; more than half were not eligible for public assistance.
There are some 230,797 children under the age of 18 living in Westchester County ”“ a number that has increased by 21 percent in the last decade.
Though early investment is vital, Halas said the continuity of support throughout the teenage years can make an economic difference as well.
According to a recent report from New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the cost of incarceration in the juvenile justice system is estimated at $210,000 per person for a total of $350 million annually.
“When children do well, the entire community does well and that benefits business,” Greenberg said.
