New information about the importance of early childhood brain development has also caused some philanthropies to invest in initiatives that support the healthy development of young children, including improving the quality and availablility of child care. Other philanthropies are investing in child care as economic development, youth development, or poverty alleviation strategies. Educators, Child Care Providers, and Health and Human Service Professionals are seeking support from both the public and private sectors in order to increase and improve community-based care, and to meet the health, housing, employment, or other needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged children and families. They are also interested in finding ways to share knowledge and resources that help them improve the quality of the services they provide. Community and Civic Organizations seek similar positive results in delivering effective, efficient services to children and their families.
Unions seek quality child care for their members' children and for all young children.
Unions are also concerned with promoting a state or community's economic vitality, and they consider community resources such as child care essential to their members' ability to work. The most successful partnerships understand and accommodate these motivations, and shape partnership goals and activities to benefit all of the partners. The Partnership Project is producing a series of technical assistance resources and materials to support the development and strengthening of public-private partnerships to improve the quality and supply of child care.