Conquering the complexity

I watched a webinar earlier this year on building sustainable funding for child care centers. The organizers suggested Children’s Funding Coordinators as a new professional role to help providers capture all of the different sources of revenue and funding for which they are eligible. They gave an example of a center that didn’t realize they were eligible for 140 different programs until they worked with a funding coordinator who helped uncover all the options. 140!

I think we all agree it’s telling that there are hundreds of programs and organizations willing to step up to help provide funding for parents who need reliable care for their kids so they can work. It speaks highly of the communities and leaders who design and fund such programs and hints as to the magnitude of the challenge young parents face. I suspect we also agree it’s unrealistic to expect a child care center director to single-handedly run a center and stay on top of 140 potential funding sources.

Can we also acknowledge that our system does not have to be this complicated? It’s partially a consequence of our entrenched aversion to big government or big programs of any kind. We have a government system that steps in for the most extremely disadvantaged and leaves an immense patchwork of corporations, non-profits, households and philanthropists to fill the rest of the gap. It might be time to reconsider if the costs of the complexity exceed the benefits. Is it possible to fund child care with a smaller number of more significant revenue streams? What if we invested in a simplified system rather than creating a new profession of experts who conquer the funding complexity?

I’m not naive enough to think we’ll agree on a large government program to fund the majority of child care centers or national coordination on a simplified funding system. But now that the problem has been acknowledged by a larger set of policymakers, I hope the changes we make to address the issue will be significant and work toward simplification rather than putting the 141st tiny bandage on a gaping wound.