IMPROVED CHILDCARE OUTCOMES RESEARCH PLANNING

Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc., Anchorage AK

Investigators

Abstract

Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc. (CITC), a tribal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agency designated in accordance with 45 CFR 98.10 and 98.16(a), proposes the research planning project, Improving Childcare Outcomes Research Planning (ICORP). The project will provide support for research planning relevant to new policy implementation in response to the CCDBG Act of 2014 in collaboration with the University of Alaska?s Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) over eighteen months in Anchorage, Alaska. The CCBDG Act of 2014 has created a pressing need to gather, analyze, and share information in order to effectively implement policies in four critical areas: the health and safety of children in child care; informed consumer choices and access to information to support child development; equal access to stable, high quality child care for low-income children; and the quality of child care and the early childhood workforce. CITC?s proposed project, Improving Childcare Outcomes Research Planning (ICORP), addresses this need with particular emphasis on identifying implementation strategies that will have positive impacts on Alaska Native and American Indian families, children, and the child-care providers who serve them. Policy questions of the greatest concern to us pertain to ensuring equal access to stable, high quality child care for low-income children and enhancing the quality of both child care and of the workforce that delivers this care. CITC?s Employment and Training Services Department (ETSD) operates both the CCDF and Tribal TANF programs in Anchorage, Alaska. These services play a critical role in the lives of Alaska Native and American Indian families and children living in Anchorage, who experience more than twice the rate of poverty as their non-Native peers, while struggling with educational success beginning in Kindergarten and continuing through high school graduation and post-secondary enrollment. While CITC is well established as a successful results accountable social service provider, with the capacity to collect data relevant to policy-related research, and a history of collaborating with independent policy researchers, we lack the expertise to independently develop and implement research proposals. This project will bring together Lead Agency staff, a repeat research partner, ISER?s Dr. Diwakar Vadapalli, and local stakeholders impacted by childcare policy decision making to plan for near future assessment of the efficacy of specific approaches to implementing policies called for by the CCDBG Act of 2014.