Backward linkage: The purchases of one sector from its suppliers. Input-output multipliers only measure backward linkages.
CACFP: (Child and Adult Care Food Program) Federal funding for nutritious food for children in regulated child care settings.
Center-based child care: Programs that provide care and education for a group of young children in formal settings outside of a home, includes for-profit or not-for-profit programs, public and private establishments, Head Start programs, pre-kindergarten and child development programs.
Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R): Intermediary agencies that help assess community need, develop supply, provide parent referral services, and help families make informed child care choices. Many CCR&R agencies train providers in child development, health and safety, and business management and may sponsor CACFP programs.
Child care subsidies: Federal funds for child care available through the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), which is disbursed by the states. States and some local governments also match a portion of their federal funds. Each state establishes its own guidelines for the use of these funds, as well as the procedures and time frames for applying.
Direct effects: Typically measured in dollars of output or number of employees stimulated by the initial demand for a sector’s services. In input-output models, the direct effects are the changes in a sectors’ output or employment stimulated by a change in that sector’s final demand.
Economic development: Economic development is typically measured in terms of jobs and income, but it also includes improvements in human development, education, health, choice, and environmental sustainability. Business and economic developers in the US are increasingly recognizing the importance of quality of life, which includes, environmental, and recreational amenities, as well as social infrastructure such as child care, in attracting and retaining businesses in a community.
Employment multiplier: An estimate of the gross number of jobs that would be created throughout the regional economy from an increase in demand for child care services large enough to stimulate the addition of one new job in the child care industry.
External demand: Demand from outside the regional economy of interest, e.g. federal demand in a state model.
Family child care home: One provider caring for one or more unrelated children in a home other than the child’s home. Regulations vary by state. Most economic studies use this term to refer to providers that are regulated, licensed or license-exempt, but not informal providers.
Final demand: A sector’s outputs are demanded both inside and outside the regional economy. Final demand in an input-output framework is that portion of demand that is not used in the production of other outputs inside the regional economy (intermediate demand). Final demand includes consumption, investment, government, and exports.
Forward linkage: Sales from one sector to other sectors in the regional economy enable the purchasing sectors to produce output. A measure of a sector’s “enabling” function is its forward linkage.
Group family home: Family homes caring for a larger number of unrelated children in a home, other than the child’s home, and needing one or more adult assistants. Group family homes typically have a provider-to-child ratio determined by the ages of the children who are present.
Gross receipts: Total revenues received by child care providers. Gross receipts can be estimated by multiplying child care enrollment by price of care (accounting for type of care, child’s age and geographic location) and adding in direct government payments to providers.
Head Start: Head Start is a comprehensive child development program that serves children from ages 3- 5 and their families. Early Head State serves children under age three. The program is child-focused and has the overall goal of increasing the school readiness of young children in low-income families. Program grantees and delegate agencies deliver a range of services that encompass all aspects of a child's development and learning.
Indirect effects: Count the multiple rounds of inter-industry purchases spurred by child care industry spending. Child care businesses purchase food and supplies from other industries, in turn stimulating output in those industries.
Informal care: Composed of family, friend and neighbor care that is not licensed or regulated. These providers are typically not included in child care economic analysis.
Induced effects: Capture the impact of household spending. Employees spend their wages in the larger economy and these expenditures generate demand in other industry sectors (housing, groceries, etc.).
Input-output analysis: A form of regional economic modeling that economic development analysts typically use to assess the linkage effects of different sectors in the regional economy. Input/Output analysis shows how the spending of any industry “ripples” through an economy.
License-exempt child care: Child care establishments exempt from licensing include family home providers caring for a limited number of children (e.g. <2 children other than the provider’s own children in NYS), or part day preschool or public school-based programs that do not fall under state child care agency review. License-exempt home providers are still typically inspected for fire and safety considerations.
Licensed child care: The state requirement that any child care establishment that meets a state definition must have the permission of the state in order to care for children. Child care establishments that fall within the definition are required to get a license and cannot operate without permission from the state, 2) establishments are required to meet the state standards (typically child-to-staff ratios, provider qualifications, health and safety requirements, and provider background checks for child abuse and neglect and criminal records) in order to operate, and 3) the state can withdraw its permission if an establishment fails to meet the standards. Licensed child care typically includes centers, group family homes and licensed child care homes.
Linkage effects: As money circulates between industries in the regional economy it stimulates economic activity.
Output multipliers: (for the child care industry) Estimate the total sales that would be generated in the entire economy by each dollar of increased direct spending for child care services.
Pre-kindergarten: Publicly funded child development/education program for children ages three to five. Can be in both public and private settings depending on the state.
Regulated child care: A general term that covers all forms of rules that are applied to child care establishments, including: building safety approvals, fire safety approvals, licensing, funding requirements, criminal record checks, and child abuse and neglect clearances. Regulated, but not licensed establishments, would be required to meet fewer standards (as in license-exempt home providers). Informal providers are not part of regulated child care.
Type I multiplier: Includes the direct effects of the child care sector and the indirect effects of inter-industry purchases.
Type II multiplier: Includes direct effects of the child care sector, indirect effects of inter-industry purchases, and induced effects generated by household and worker expenditures.