Maryland Child Care Business Partnership Final Report.

Building on a pledge to support the state's job growth and successful transitions from welfare to work, the governor of Maryland issued an executive order in 1998 to establish the Maryland Child Care Business Partnership (MCCBP). This partnership, comprised of 23 members representing business, labor, state and local government, and the child care community, was charged with assessing child care needs and resources in Maryland, identifying innovative child care programs and strategies, and developing a plan by which public funds would be used for initiatives with employers and community support to increase the availability of child care, especially for low-wage workers. The findings of the partnership revealed that there are over half a million Maryland children who are in need of care for at least part of the day. Maryland has a child care capacity for approximately 37 percent of children under 12 years needing care. The supply and cost of regulated child care vary greatly by jurisdiction and region. The state offers assistance to families, care providers, and employers in obtaining and providing quality care programs. Promising developments in providing child care have involved public-private partnerships in states including Colorado and North Carolina. Several MCCBP members held regional business breakfasts to consider ways the business community could lead in developing child care solutions for employees and the larger community. The MCCBP concluded that such events will be most effective in producing new child care resources and options if they are part of a comprehensive regional plan involving relationship building and concrete action plans. (Two appendices contain the text of the executive order creating the MCCBP, its members, and include a statement of The Employer Group, a group of about 20 national companies employing large numbers of low-wage workers.) (KB)