The Washington, D.C.-based Bainum Family Foundation recently announced a five-year, $100 million funding commitment to early childhood. The ambitious plan includes growth for the foundation beyond its current focus on D.C. and Florida. Marica Cox Mitchell, Bainum’s Vice President for Early Childhood, is leading the charge.
“Marica’s a visionary,” says David Daniels, the foundation’s CEO and President.“She brings an invaluable perspective through her expertise and lived experience as an early childhood educator as we reimagine what’s possible in the early childhood space. We’re continuing to encourage business, government and philanthropic sectors to come together, listen to what those closest to the problem — families, early childhood educators and administrators—truly need, and then invest in future-facing solutions”
Early Learning Nation magazine sat down with Cox to learn more about her philosophy and strategy:
Early Learning Nation: I’ve seen you speak a few times, and one of the moments that always gets a strong reaction is when you show that the early childhood field makes it all more complicated than it has to be.
Marica Cox Michell: We throw all these terms at families — child care, daycare, early learning, preschool, Head Start, pre-K — and are like, “Figure it out.” The response tends to be, “I don’t know what these even mean.” It’s too much complexity to throw at families and for the workforce as well.
So there’s a better way to talk about it.
We had to create a new lexicon to make it make sense. And so, there are two child care options. Only two. One is an Early Childhood Education Program. This can exist in a school building, a house, a condo, a church basement or community center. The other type is a Trusted Caregiver. This is essentially the family saying, ‘I can handle this myself.’ It could be someone working from home. It could be an amazing grandmother living in a three-generation household.
Neither option is inherently better than the other.
There’s no hierarchy. It’s also fluid. A family, for the first six months, might want a trusted caregiver. And things might shift, and they might want an early childhood education program. Child care policies should flatten the hierarchy to better align with what families want.
That sweeps away a lot of the confusion and cobwebs. There are programs, and there are trusted caregivers, and the families themselves need to have a say in which is right for them.
I often say, “Simplicity is going to be the child care innovation.”
And then we can tackle the real problems. How does the Bainum Family Foundation view the state of child care in the United States?
Child care is under-resourced and undervalued.
Funding tends to be episodic, whether it’s philanthropy or government. This funding is bringing some long-term stabilized resources to this sector. It also allows our partners the freedom to be innovative and to develop solutions that can pave the way for systems change.
We are not episodic with our funding. We are committed to the early childhood sector and dedicated to supporting its advancement. For example, our WeVision EarlyEd initiative is about partnering with “proximity experts” (families and early childhood education professionals with lived experiences and specialized expertise) to define solutions and to direct our investments.
Do you feel a sense of momentum around child care right now?
I’m excited about the visibility of the discourse around child care and the diversity of who’s engaged in this conversation. Gone are the days where you show up at a national or local meeting around issues impacting young children, and you only see the early childhood advocates talking amongst themselves.
Where else do you see opportunity?
There’s also been a shift from focusing solely on the problem to focusing on the solutions. The conversation’s shifting away from, Tell us more about how bad the child care system is. Now it’s about What can we do?
It’s about tangible solutions, whether they’re incremental or transformative.
There have been important advances in D.C., but then a few months ago they were almost lost.
Yes. Advocates were able to increase awareness, and a large portion of the D.C. Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Fund that was not in the Mayor’s budget was restored.
It shows that you have a network of advocates ready to respond when there’s an all-hands-on-deck moment. People come together and know how to work together and collaborate.
It also shows the importance of stabilized long-term funding. It creates stability for the rapid response that we saw from the advocates in D.C. It is important for the sector, whether advocates or direct service providers, to have that level of stability to respond to the ever-changing context that they operate in.
What should our readers know about Florida?
For us, as we look at the early childhood landscape there, it reinforces the notion that early childhood issues are bipartisan.
For example, early learning is being elevated in conversations around economics and labor productivity, so the Florida Chamber of Commerce is very active, because it’s about the workforce of the future, but the well-being of young children and families is also a part of the discussion.
How did you get into this issue? What makes you passionate about it?
I started my career almost 26 years ago as an early childhood educator, and I always saw the gap between research, policy and practice. I was always committed to narrowing that gap.
You experienced the inequities firsthand.
Oh yeah, definitely. My work was as rigorous as that of my peers in elementary schools and high schools. We were on the same college campus, oftentimes taking the same courses, but our compensation and societal recognition varied. We were penalized because we chose to work with younger children. I also saw what families were asking for, and how their needs were not prioritized.
When I left the classroom, I sought to narrow that gap. To flip the script.
There’s a feeling that the stakes are high right now for child care. Things are changing, but are we going to get it right this time?
It’s Define yourself or be defined.
I recall a quote from one of our proximity experts, who said, “I don’t want to be a victim of the future, I want to shape it.” Through WeVision EarlyEd, we are creating room for those most proximate to shape the future of child care. And as philanthropists, taxpayers, lawmakers and policy influencers we should shift our focus and funding to making their ideal real.
Early Learning Nation columnist Mark Swartz writes for and about nonprofit organizations. Author of the children's books Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, Lost Flamingo, Magpie Bridge and The Giant of the Flood as well as a few novels, he lives in Takoma Park, MD, with his wife and two children.
