 This is Dennis McMahon and welcome to Positively Vermont Today my special guest is Ali Richards the CEO of the Permanent Fund for Vermont's children Welcome Ali. Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. Thank you And this is a very important issue and a very interesting organization that you're heading But first tell us a little bit about yourself. Sure. I Grew up in Vermont little town called Newberry I went to Oxford High School and actually got my first taste of the political policy world as a high school student I was the student member on the State Board of Education appointed by Governor Dean So that was sort of a very interesting to see how important it is to have Internships opportunities like that As a young person to really see the world and your place in it and what you might be able to contribute I went out of state for college and then I ended up working in Washington, DC For a couple years still thinking about politics trying to have the biggest impact I could as a younger person ended up working on the first Obama presidential campaign and After he was elected. I was really a little bit disenfranchised by the lack of civil discourse and work happening productive work happening Down at the federal government. So I actually ran home as fast as I could to really make a difference So that's I was so pleased to have a place like Vermont to come back to and really be able to To work on something that I really feel passionately about I worked in the governor's office under governor Shumlin for a few years and did a lot of Policy work mostly ended up turning into an education work as education rose to the top as one of these key fundamental aspects of our state that we need to focus on and Really learned a lot in that role and then transitioned over to run the permanent fund about two and a half years ago Right well tell us about the fund. What exactly thoughts about its history? I understand it's very interesting great So the permanent fund for Vermont's children. It was founded in the year 2000 by some business Men and women who decided they wanted to have the greatest possible impact on the future of Vermont a state that they loved And so they ended up focusing on early childhood education and not everybody makes that leap right off the bat So why if you care deeply about the sustainable future for the state is early childhood education your single focus? and it really comes down to this logic model of What we know about the science and the research the brain science shows you that 80 percent of a child's brain and the foundation of sort of their future success and resiliency against Chronic disease or addictive behaviors executive function the ability to sort of manage emotions and handle complex situations is really Fully in place by age three that's 80 percent of that foundation and 90 percent of the foundation by age five So if these are the most crucial years in a child and family's life Where are kids in Vermont? And that's a question. That's also true for this the whole country And the truth is you know, there have been many changes We don't make any statement whether it makes sense to be in the workforce or not We just went to the data and seven out of ten kids in Vermont under six have all available Caretakers or parents in the workforce, which means they're just no longer at home during these crucial years for the most part And so we'll get into this in a little bit later, I think but we started looking then at well, okay, if they're not at home, where are they and We saw that we almost had a crisis level of the amount of Childcare regulated childcare that was available to this population in need and then how much of that was actually affordable for families And how much of that was high quality? And so our mission of high quality affordable Childcare for all who need it in Vermont by 2025 came from that logic model of we really want to have a thriving future for our state of Vermont and here's a linchpin issue sort of a root cause issue So just a little bit more about the history because it is sort of interesting and it has been now 18 years We're a supporting organization of the Vermont Community Foundation. So they we are affiliated with them. They're our back office and We partner with them on many things and then the founders sort of started by saying, let's just pool sort of lots of different folks that are interested in early childhood who have done philanthropic work in early childhood and Target sort of a policy issue that we think we can really move the needle on so they started experimenting on how to make the biggest impact using philanthropy in early childhood education and The first way to do it was Leveraging each other's resources. So let's pool some funding We've all been doing this work for you know a while in this space and we haven't moved the needle on Quality access or affordability for zero to five high quality early childhood education. So let's let's see what we can do So at that time They pooled this was in about 2005 When they sort of starting it started experimenting of how to make a really big difference in this area They pooled resources and created the Vermont Community preschool collaborative Which is one of the projects of the permanent fund partnered with the Turrell fund and Hennerson Foundation and other early childhood partners and They said okay Well, we want to take the pre-k law that's on the books and it's voluntary You can it's voluntary for a town to offer pre-k and they said well It's very hard for a town to start offering pre-k because even though they're allowed to it's not mandatory And you don't get funding for it until the second year So what this philanthropic group was able to do with some resources and being nimble was say, okay We're gonna go town to town give startup grants build relationships connect the dots and before you knew it 20% of communities had been offering pre-k 80% started offering pre-k because of the work we were doing in communities and that led to this idea of for policy makers Well, wait a minute now It depends where you happen to wake up in the morning if you have access to pre pre kindergarten education That's an equity issue and we really tried to prefer to not do that in Vermont when possible So that led to a universal pre-k law Which we now have in Vermont was the first state in the country to have a universal pre-k law for three and four-year-olds With a sustainable funding source. So what was what does that mean? It means higher quality and more affordable for families in Vermont so now we have You know 80% almost of our Students I think actually it's 73% as of the last census who are three and four-year-olds are that are eligible for for pre-k Are actually taking advantage of it It's amazing and the study show that that pre-k really is such a tremendous heads up Advantage I was involved in pre-k programs in another state and we were replicating grants We finally established one and Just the benefits are amazing Absolutely, and that's something that's interesting a lot of people approach this work from different angles some Just see that this is sort of a almost a moral imperative This is what kids and families need and some say well, you know what there's also a cold hard capitalist case for this too It's one of the best return on investments. You can possibly get as you're saying Dennis, you know, it's this idea of If you if you help kids and families Between in this crucial age of their development zero to five, you know, you save down the road on health care costs You save on even substance abuse You can save on special education and other areas. So it sort of depressurizes costs Down the road So we actually worked with the Vermont business roundtable a couple years ago and did a return on investment study And we showed that in Vermont if you actually made the investment to create a system of high-quality Affordable early childhood education zero to five It would be a sort of one to three return on investment just the tip of the iceberg with the data We had available to us which is pretty pretty good as as return on investments go We have a very very good the website which really explains all the problems in fact There's some alarming statistics shown there the way they grow the 70 80 90 percent What if you could explain that again? Absolutely, so one of the first things that we did when we decided our mission is high-quality affordable Early care and learning for all by 2025. That's one other thing I wanted to mention earlier actually at your question of the history of the permanent fund We've given ourselves a deadline of 2025 and I can tell you you know running this organization Nothing holds people's feet to the fire my own included like a deadline So we've created that urgency for ourselves and a very focused mission with a very focused deadline And we're marching forward sort of to that date And we actually will go away the permanent fund will go away in 2025 a little funny right with the permanent fund So and it's I almost like that because it makes me sort of explain We're the permanent fund for the we're trying to create permanent lasting change that will live on beyond our lifetime We're using philanthropy as a change agent for this lasting change So so that's sort of our deadline in our mission and one of the first things we said was we need to understand The population the universe the data Before we can even set out to figure out our strategy and how we're gonna get this done So we did a real high-level Census-based supply and demand analysis, which I think is what you're referring to and That's where we realized seven out of ten kids just to create our sort of you know demand Number seven out of ten kids under six in Vermont have all available parents in the workforce But half of those do not have access to regulated care and only a third is considered quality So I think some of these numbers we just renewed this report It's called the stalled at the start report and we found that um 51% of Vermont infants and toddlers that are likely to need care do not have access to any regulated program and 77% of that group don't have access to high quality programming and it for infants Which are our babies? It's even worse so 98% of Infants likely to need care in some counties do not have access to child care. So as you can sort of see We do have a bit of a crisis on our hands with how much child care is available How much is and how much is quality and then for affordability many many families can't Afford this some pay up to 40% of their gross household income on child care more than housing or other Parts of their household budgets and you mentioned the word quality now. How is that in short other state regulations? Or how do you get involved with that? Great question? quality One way to talk about it is sort of what it actually looks like on the ground. It's a nurturing consistent caregiver with Friendly and stimulating bright environment exposure to lots of vocabulary And different activities outdoor play and an outdoor space Nutritious food. So there are sort of these elements of what does it actually look like to really get that high quality for this return on investment? These outcomes for these kids that we're looking for and And actually, you know a part of it is is really health care related Access to developmental screenings and then referrals into other services. So the ultimate sort of prevention and early intervention So that's that's quality and it's rate. It's there. We have what's called our star system. It's a Step-ahead recognition system and so that's what what is called our quality rating system But we actually call it a recognition system And so it's voluntary But you basically as a program you earn points in the quality system and it's state regulated through the agency of human services And you have to meet certain requirements and minimum standards And then there are also some federal Requirements as well and head start for is a great example of a very high quality program that has, you know, even higher standards That is for low-income Zero to five year olds tell us some of the projects your groups that involved in in the past and what are your current projects great great question and So for example, the pre-k work was one example of a type of project We would do and the other one was we did peer-to-peer mentoring So we created a cohort of very high quality early childhood educators in the state of Vermont And we paid them to go out and work with their peers in childcare programs and pre-k programs to improve their quality and We went from 14% just so quickly on the sort of background side You know early childhood education happens in a few different settings. It happens in homes home-based child care It happens in centers and happens in public programs pre-k classrooms And and so we did a mentoring program and on the home-based providers. We realized we had a bit of a gap They needed some support Didn't have access to a lot of mentoring or resources and only 14% of home-based providers were even Participating in the quality rating system. So we did our mentoring work and move that to 78% of home-based child care In the star system and it's actually holding there. So we did another analysis last year and said We're actually moving the needle on quality of current child care But when we look at these numbers like you say they're alarming we do not have enough physical child care So it's great the quality is going up, but it's not gonna work for anyone if they can't access it So we've actually pivoted to what's called make way for kids And it's a grant and technical assistance program Which actually we're going community by community and we're increasing the number of child high quality child care spaces for children and our goal is actually to increase 500 new places for kids zero to five this year alone, and you know, it's really exciting Dennis as we just got our Applications back from that. We weren't sure if there was a Network of folks out there in Vermont who really wanted to open child care expand their child care centers their pre-case and we had an overwhelming response of people from Incredible backgrounds who said I've always wanted to do this and I just needed a little support So it's small startup grants and it's a team that comes in and looks at your situation locally and in your program Helps you with a business model helps connect dots to businesses to health care hospitals higher-ed institutions and say how can we actually make this work for us in this town and I also want to mention If our mission is high-quality affordable early care and learning The way that we do that in the permanent fund is through let's grow kids, which is a public awareness Public will campaign. It's really a movement building a movement and then there's Vermont birth to five So those are our sort of signature projects and if you want to think about it, you know, let's grow kids is this You know high-level strategy of changing the way we do business in the state of Vermont getting Vermonters To be a part of this movement to understand the importance of child care in their lives And then on the other side from on birth to five and they work very closely together Is actually doing program work in the state? So technical assistance professional development grants to improve the quality of child care the accessibility of child care And also streamline the system to make sure that it is as efficient as possible Those those two programs look very successful Could you give us some examples of how those programs have changed things for people you've been working with? Absolutely, actually and and thank you for that question. So let's grow kids is a little different. It's sort of You know, how do you measure something before you've reached your success of changing state policy to add public investment? You know and and create sort of a different policy Context for this this situation. So we've had to sort of I always say, how do you digest the elephant? How do you break it into these chunks because that's a pretty big mission that we're after the whole thing is a big It's pretty big. That's right. It's a it's a large enterprise and And you know, so let's grow kids We've had to say well, how are we as you say changing the hearts and minds and making progress one example is The media, you know, when we first started no one was really talking about early child education pre-k child care and Now we get about five to ten stories in the press a week You know it changes week to week, but we have on average, you know every week that goes by we have some stories on the brain Development on the shortage of child care programs You know on various sort of things that are moving through the legislature that affect this issue So it's all of a sudden elevated into people's consciousness consciousness and you know Vermont edition had a great episode a couple weeks ago about getting young people to move to the state of Vermont and Childcare dominated that issue with callers and others who said well wait a minute. Why aren't we talking about child care? You know, no other state has this right. Could you just imagine the effect? High quality affordable child care as a policy would have on getting young families and businesses to move to Vermont We really have a chance to corner the market on this and it will really help our demographic Challenges that we're facing as a state. So so that's one piece of let's her kids another one is You know the funding into the system two years ago We started working with our sort of advocacy apparatus and we helped work with partners to get a million dollars increase Annually into the system, which is just really a small step It's a significant funding but for for high quality affordable child care, you know, sort of a very first step then We saw it elevated to a gubernatorial issue another great example of how we're changing sort of the needle Both Sue Minter and Phil Scott when they were running for governor made this one of their key issues in their campaigns And really elevated it and then when Governor Scott was elected He made this the largest increase of any area in his first budget address So not he proposed nine point six million dollars increased into child care and we ended up working together to get two point five Which is still a big step up in a very tough, you know budget year Right here in Burlington Mayor Weinberger has also really taken on this issue and understands economic development the workforce development implications of it and he has reallocated $500,000 to create high quality affordable slots for low-income families in Burlington alone annually So you're starting to see things pop up. We're seeing businesses step up And really, you know say how can I be a part of this problem? I we thought we might have a little bit of a you know a Pitch to make with businesses to see how important is this to your to your bottom line to your workforce? And we didn't we started working with businesses and they said You got us we see every single day how the lack and of the lack of affordable and accessible child care is really affecting The absenteeism and the recruitment and retention of our employees and not to mention their sort of productivity throughout the day so We you know have these wonderful businesses all across Vermont in all different sectors and all different sizes stepping up to say How can we be a part of this solution here? Well notice there's a word there. It's a very interesting website collaborative philanthropy. Mm-hmm. Tell us what that's about So that's I would say one of our key strengths about sort of the culture of the permanent fun and who we are So we happen to be sort of the on-the-ground operator, but we would not be here today without other family foundations individuals There's two things about our name that are a little misleading. One is the word permanent And the other one is fun because we're actually not in doubt. We fundraise annually for our work And yes, yes for our expenses. That's right for let's grow kids from up birth to five the staffing in the grant-making and and we Really work very closely with other funders So again individuals and mostly family foundations all with ties to Vermont And the Turl fund and the 80 Henderson Foundation are two funders who again have been in this space for a long time decades and have really sort of worked to Help us leverage Funding and make a much bigger difference when we sort of came together and pooled resources and pooled sort of our brains and our Experiences in the field and in this work. Well, you could really see it was sort of a catalytic event that shot us to the next level Creating Vermont birth to five let's grow kids And really putting us on a path to actually be able to move on this really ambitious But achievable goal in the time frame that we've set out for that's amazing What are the issues we're now almost in the middle of the legislative session and what are the issues you're pushing today? Another great question. So, okay, this is this is the again how to digest the elephant Money does public investment is needed because currently how do we pay for? You know today high quality early child education. There's some federal money very little federal money that comes in There's some state funding and through pre-k Which is more significant now and child care financial assistance and then parents pay in many cases Much more than they can afford and then the rest of it is sort of on the backs of those who provide it in other words childcare providers don't take a livable wage and In some cases You know the average I believe is twenty six thousand dollars as an annual salary for childcare providers So and they know they can't charge parents anymore Because they're already charging them too much in many cases childcare providers Don't take salaries or benefits because they're trying to balance their budget and not charge parents more So something's got to give in this business model and that's you know, some public investment is certainly going to make a difference here so currently there is a bill to well, there's a work in the legislature Through the budget to increase 9.6 million dollars for childcare financial assistance and that is just to keep up with inflation So we are nine nine point six million dollars behind in inflation for our current funding mechanism That's childcare financial assistance. So that is a first step if you were able to make an investment like that today It's a it's it's the first big step in the right direction to creating the system And then it allows the field to adjust because there are a lot of market factors here so it allows them to sort of hire up and and You know really start improving their quality and starting to get parents to be able to afford Their services, that's great. We have a wonderful website and there's a great deal of information on that And I'm sure that you're available for people to contact you and Just maybe tell our guests in the studio audience and in broad What what you like as a parting message? Well, I guess I would say We are trying as I said earlier We are trying to change the way that we do business as a state of Vermont So we need Vermonters to be a part of this movement. You can sign our petition. Let's go at let's grow kids .org You can talk to your legislators You can be a part of figuring out the solution to this thorny problem and then moving it forward If you're a business you can work with us to see how you can support your own child care needs for your employees And I would just say the most important thing is be a part of the solution join the campaign And you know if you're an early childhood educator or provider you can be in touch with us with our grant making program But really we need to say as a state of Vermont that we're gonna get this done And it's gonna be a really collective effort. That's great. Well, thank you very much. My special guest today has been Ali Richards Thank you Ali CEO of the permanent fund for Vermont's children And this is Dennis McMahon for positively Vermont