Philadelphia, PA – The Fund for Quality (FFQ) is proud to announce a milestone celebration marking a decade of impactful work in expanding access to high-quality early care and education in Philadelphia. The event, titled “Building Up Quality Care: Celebrating 10 Years of Fund for Quality,” will be held on August 7th at Pee Wee Prep, a new state-of-the-art child care center, located at 243 N. 63rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19139.
Since its inception in 2014, FFQ has made significant strides in improving early childhood education through a strategic partnership between Reinvestment Fund and Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), with essential support from the William Penn Foundation and contributions from Vanguard and its Strong Start for Kids ProgramTM. FFQ’s mission is to provide business planning and facilities-related financing to expand the capacity of high-quality early care and education providers, ultimately increasing accessibility for low-income families.
Data from Reinvestment Fund’s Policy Solutions’ Child Care Map revealed that before FFQ’s efforts, only 25% of licensed child care facilities in Philadelphia were rated as high quality. Furthermore, this supply was unevenly distributed, creating critical shortages in underserved neighborhoods. FFQ was established to address these disparities by boosting high-quality care availability in these underserved areas. As a result of FFQ’s efforts and those of plenty other key stakeholders in the city, high-quality child care availability in Philadelphia has surged to 44%.
Over the past ten years, the FFQ has achieved these remarkable outcomes:
“Our vision has always been to ensure that every child in Philadelphia has access to high-quality child care, no matter their zip code,” said LaToshia DeVose, Program Director. “I am honored to lead this program in the city where I was born and raised, and to which Reinvestment Fund has strong roots in improving communities, and to celebrate the incredible progress that we have made. The reality is that there’s still more to do.”
FFQ’s success is attributed to the unwavering commitment of its grantees, skilled consultants, stakeholders in the Philadelphia early childhood education system, and our dedicated program staff.
As stated by MaryKay Mahar, PHMC’s Senior Director, Early Learning and Prevention Systems, “FFQ offers unprecedented investment in the local businesses that communities trust to deliver skilled care and early learning to our children. The outcomes of demonstrating that same trust by infusing capital are remarkable, but not surprising, given the expertise and resilience within the network of predominantly women and minority owned small businesses that drive Philadelphia’s care economy.”
For more details about the Fund for Quality and its ongoing initiatives, please visit www.fundforquality.org.
Media Contact: media@reinvestment.com
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About Fund for Quality (FFQ):
The Fund for Quality (FFQ) is a partnership between Reinvestment Fund and Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), with funding from the William Penn Foundation, and Vanguard Strong Start for Kids Program. Through the provision of business planning and facilities-related financing, Fund for Quality supports high-quality early care and education providers with expanding their services to reach more low-income families.
About Reinvestment Fund:
Reinvestment Fund is a mission-driven financial institution committed to making communities work for all people. We bring financial and analytical tools to partnerships that work to ensure that people in communities across the country have the opportunities they strive for: affordable places to live, access to nutritious food and health care, schools where their children can flourish, and strong, local businesses that support jobs. We use data to understand markets and how transactions can have the most powerful impact, which has consistently earned us the top Aeris rating of AAA for financial strength and four stars for impact management. Our asset and risk management systems have also earned us an AA- rating from S&P. Since our inception in 1985, Reinvestment Fund has provided over $3.2 billion in financing to strengthen neighborhoods, scale social enterprises, and build resilient communities.