Oklahoma Public School Resource Center

PROJECT PURPOSE

Oklahoma Public School Resource Center (OPSRC), in partnership with Wonderschool, proposes a 3-year program with a total cost of $6,546,000 that will significantly improve the childcare marketplace across the state. The purpose of the project is twofold. First, as of today, 55% of Oklahoma residents live in "childcare deserts" and most of the deserts in rural communities. Second, since the start of COVID, child IQ scores have decreased from an average of 100 to 78 with much of this due to a lack of early childhood education opportunities (ages 0-4). This proposal will create new childcare providers targeting the "desserts" and supporting providers that align with the beliefs and values of the community they reside within. Outcomes include: -120 new childcare providers will be successfully launched targeting both ?childcare desserts? and economic growth areas. - 110 providers will transition to use the Wonderschool Childcare Management System (CCMS) to stabilize/optimize their businesses - Launch and integrated a Childcare Finder marketplace serving parents and providers as a transactional marketplace for services - Data dashboard for the state analyzing childcare capacity, demand, financial health, and parental feedback/rating

EVIDENCE

The data supporting the need for this project is drawn from the Center for American Progress, ?Child Care Deserts,? available at childcaredeserts.org , Case for Child Care, ?America, It?s Time to Talk About Child Care,? available at caseforchildcare.org, and EdSource, ?Pandemic effects may have lowered baby IQs, study says?, September, 2021. The approach offered by OSPRC and Wonderschool has been successfully employed in other states including IN, NE, NC, NV, and NM.

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

COVID has had a significant impact of the operations of childcare providers across the country - specifically, family owned childcare programs within home settings, with nearly 1 in 4 closing. Unfortunately, many of these family led programs are the ones that best represent communities with religious and culturally appropriate offerings. There are many groups that have been significantly impacted with 2 bearing the majority of the burden since the start of COVID. These groups are families living in rural communities and young families with one or both parents trying to rejoin the workforce. In Oklahoma, the Center for American Progress reports 26,341 adults who have not rejoined the workforce post-COVID due to a lack of childcare options. A review of the childcare desert maps, available at www. childcaredeserts.org, show that the majority of issues exist within Oklahoma?s rural communities. A review of data from workforce sources indicate that Americans unable to rejoin the workforce due to childcare reasons are disproportionately young families that engage in shift work or lack multiple options for job flexibility.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

Real-time dashboards will report: Childcare provider metrics - New childcares launched - Providers in the training program - Licenses providers Supply and demand data - Live time availability - Availability by age group - Availability  per region Child enrollment data - Demographics - Scheduled vs. actual attendance - Absence rates Operational health of programs - Utilization rates - Availability - Unenrollment - Forecast vs actual revenue collection - Bad debt - Private pay vs subsidized tuition Programmatic quality - Family unenrollment rates and reasons - Parent feedback - Tuition rates - Tour experiences - Enrolled family feedback  Marketing data - Pageviews - Unique visitors - Tours scheduled - Enrollment invitations extended  - Conversion rates Provider product usage and adoption

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma