Case study

Capita’s Role in Driving Narrative and Policy Change: Private Equity in Child Care

Capita’s work around the role of private equity in child care exemplifies our efforts to create spaces and frameworks for critical conversations that drive narrative and policy change. In 2022, Senior Fellow Elliot Haspel published his op-ed in The New Republic, which was the first major public commentary on the issue. Capita followed up with a brief in 2023, Toddlers and Investors Aren’t Playmates: The Threat of Private Equity in Child Care, marking the first U.S. think tank publication on the topic. Other organizations, including the National Women’s Law Center, Community Change, Open Markets Institute, and Neighborhood Villages (MA), have also shined the spotlight on private equity and child care. 

These efforts have helped shift the national conversation and influence public discourse. The issue has gained mainstream attention, appearing in major media outlets. For example, Elliot has been cited in multiple news articles, ranging from a December 2022 New York Times article to an April 2023 Seven Days (VT) article. He also authored a major investigative article in April 2024, published by Early Learning Nation. This work has helped influence states like Vermont and Massachusetts to establish guardrails against excessive profit-seeking behavior regarding state child care funds.