MAY 2006 VOLUME 2 NO. 7
Packard Gift Supports Child Care and Education Initiatives
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Studies indicate that families throughout the state face a growing challenge when they seek licensed care for their children, especially if those children are infants. For San Joaquin Valley families, the problem is particularly acute.
In Merced County, for example, licensed childcare is available for only 24 percent of children with parents in the labor force, according to the 2005 California Child Care Portfolio, an annual compilation of data produced by the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network.
Likewise, children in the San Joaquin Valley are less likely to attend preschool than children in other parts of California. A report on regional education and youth preparedness published in 2004 by the UC Merced Great Valley Center indicates that 49 percent of Valley children go to preschool compared to 54 percent statewide.
UC Merced recently received a $600,000 gift from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to support work that will address these critical issues. Funding from the foundation is already helping advance the pursuit of research, dialogue and resources to expand the availability of high-quality care and education for young children.
“As a new research university, we have the opportunity to boost the understanding of best practices in early care and education through research,” said Kenji Hakuta, dean of the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, who authored the proposal. “Our goal is to develop the institutional capacity to provide regional leadership in increasing awareness and working with the early childhood education community to provide excellence in serving the community’s early care and education needs.
"Perhaps no other issue is as important in the effort to reduce the disadvantages of poverty and lack of education,” Hakuta said.
Approximately half of the Packard Foundation funding will be allocated to support development of the UC Merced Early Care and Education Center, which is envisioned as a model facility that will offer care and educational programming for infants, toddlers and preschool-aged children.
A second component of the initiative will focus on related research and policy analysis conducted by faculty and students.
Yet another portion of the funding will support regional dialogue designed to promote the quality of and access to early child care and preschool education. The Great Valley Center is expected to organize a series of town hall-style meetings with business, civic and political leaders; educational professionals; social service organizations; advocacy groups; and ethnic and religious leaders. Focused on the value of preschool and current trends in preschool, two sessions at the Great Valley Center's recent annual conference in Sacramento have already started the dialogue on these important topics.
Guided by the business philosophy and values of founders David and Lucile Packard, the Packard Foundation has a mission to invest in innovative individuals and organizations to improve the lives of children, enable creative pursuit of science, advance reproductive health, and conserve and restore the earth's natural systems. One of the foundation's central goals is to achieve quality early education for all children in California.
In 2001, the foundation awarded the University of California a grant of more than $11 million, which allowed the University to secure the UC Merced campus site and to set aside 5,780 acres as an environmental preserve.