Shared Services

Article Link: http://stage.exchangepress.com/article/shared-services/5018968/

As Co-Founder of the Alliance for Early Childhood Finance, it’s my job to think about how we pay for early care and education (ECE) services in the United States. I am actually pretty good at identifying creative, new financing strategies. But I can’t make it simple. Generating the operating revenue needed to establish and sustain a high-quality ECE program has never been easy �" and in a recession economy it is becoming even more difficult. To be sustainable, ECE managers must tap and blend many funding streams, deal with multiple public and private agencies, and effectively market their services to families. To keep these dollars flowing they must not only comply with a dizzying array of funding requirements, but also ensure that their program meets an increasingly complex set of quality standards. Add in all of the daily demands �" staff who need supervision, a child who needs developmental screening or special health care or just won’t stop biting, an anxious new parent, a clogged toilet, an ill cook �" and who has the time or energy to deal with high finance? In short, running a successful ECE business can be a herculean job. I have profound respect for directors who ...