Saving the Future

Getting With the Program

MELF’s hope is that its scholarship program will allow parents of at-risk kids to afford high-quality facilities—which typically cost between $10,000 to $15,000 a year—that will improve their children's’ chances of developing intellectually. MELF is currently proposing to give each child up to $10,000 per year; the amount of money a child’s family received would be based on the number of risk factors a child has.

The foundation’s program focuses on other factors that influence early-childhood development. Once enrolled, before starting the program, the children’s parents will have access to a mentor (such as a public health nurse) who will visit them in their home. The mentor provides advice on nutrition, how to assist in their child’s development, and how to connect with programs and resources. If the parents participate in this early outreach, their child will receive the scholarship.

The Itasca Project, a Minneapolis-based group of community leaders, has provided an outline of high-quality child-care attributes. Top early–child care centers have one adult for every four infants and one adult for every six toddlers. Besides having at least an associate’s degree in child development, caregivers should talk and read to infants and toddlers a great deal, providing regular feedback on a child’s progress or problems to parents. A high-quality facility has plenty of books, with new books frequently added to the rotation, and posters and pictures reinforce words and concepts that kids are learning. In addition, good centers typically have earned accreditation from a group such as the Utah-based National Association for Family Child Care or the New York City–based American Montessori Society.

MELF scholarships would be added to any other state or federal money a child’s family qualifies for, such as the Childcare Assistance Fund, a combination of state and federal grants that subsidizes child care for working families. These funds are dispersed through local units of government, primarily counties, which also will receive and disperse MELF scholarships.

A crucial component of the MELF program is the establishment of a quality-rating system to help parents decide which care provider is best for their child. Providers would be graded on a scale that measures their ability to help kids develop kindergarten-readiness skills such as knowing their primary colors, counting blocks, or listening to simple directions. “I use the analogy of a J.D. Power for child care,” Benson says. “Parents at risk will have the ability to shop for what’s best for their children.” Currently, he says, there is no such rating system in place.

“If you can develop a ratings system that everyone agrees makes sense in terms of measuring these early learning centers, and you can report back on how those centers are doing against those measurable results, then the parents can get that as a toolbox,” says Charlie Weaver, executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership and a MELF director. “If they can use that information to decide where they are going to send their kids, then that’s a system that works.”

To fund the scholarships, Benson and Warren Staley, former CEO of Minnetonka-based Cargill and a member of the MELF board of directors, have raised $16 million in private donations. Other MELF board members (and contributors) include the CEOs from Minnesota companies Best Buy (Brad Anderson), Blue Cross Blue Shield (Mark Banks), and Taylor Corporation (Jean Taylor). MELF also hopes to raise another $14 million to complete research, analyze results, and make recommendations for expanding the program.

Looking ahead beyond the pilot to a statewide scholarship program, Rolnick says that “there’s got to be a partnership between federal, state, and business” funding streams. His hope is that such a partnership would help create an endowed fund of $1.5 to $2 billion. “And then—going out just like the U of M does for physical capital—we would start a campaign to raise private money for human capital.” Adds Rolnick, “We’re pretty sure that if a third of it comes from the state and a third comes from private donations, we can get the federal government to match a third.”