Advancing a More Equitable Child Care System: A Roundtable Discussion
Capita hosted an event on May 21, 2020 to explore the promise of worker cooperatives to build a more equitable child care system.
Holyoake House, Manchester, home of the Co-operative Union.
By Stephen Richards, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21632605
Building on Foundations for Flourishing Futures: A Look Ahead for Young Children and Families — and with new motivation provoked by the “crisis of care” accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic — Capita is currently exploring three interlocking questions as we examine the future of caregiving:
How might stakeholders reexamine the role of caregiving in society, setting up systems, structures, and narratives that reflect the true value of caregiving?
How might stakeholders involve a wide range of people, particularly those who have historically been marginalized, in tackling major caregiving challenges?
How might stakeholders embrace intergenerational relationships and consider a range of care needs when developing future caregiving solutions?
As we seek to answer these questions, we hosted a virtual roundtable discussion on the potential of worker cooperatives to advance a more equitable child care system and one that generates stronger outcomes for both children and child care professionals.
Cooperatives — businesses in which ownership and governance are shared by staff and/or clients — have a long history in the United States and around the globe yet only the tiniest footprint in early childhood. The democratic ownership and governance structure of cooperatives is designed to advance the social, cultural, and economic interests of their members and as such, has significant potential to better support the development and aspirations of historically underpaid child care professionals while delivering better outcomes to the young children in their care.
This conversation highlighted innovative approaches to increasing the availability and quality of child care through the growth of employee-owned child care businesses and the conversion of existing businesses to employee ownership, as well as policy innovations and philanthropic opportunities to support and strengthen cooperative models of care.