New Investments Fund ECE Research Partnerships
The Couch Family Foundation recently made significant investments in New Hampshire-focused early care and education (ECE) research to help shape and build a pivotal knowledge base needed to improve policy and practice in the Granite State.
Recent research grantee partners include the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire, which will establish a first-in-the-state ECE research consortium, and the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute, which will produce ECE fiscal policy research, including its effect on children, families, and the state economy. Please visit our updated webpage highlighting key findings from UNH’s and NHFPI’s recent ECE research.
The Carsey School-led consortium will conduct new research and bring together researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to collaboratively shape a research agenda that can continuously improve ECE systems for both young children and ECE professionals in our state.
Carsey School research will include, for example, analysis of the demographics and characteristics of the early care and education workforce, families utilizing state child care scholarships or not, examination of the implementation of recent child care scholarship changes, and a completion of a landscape of public pre-kindergartens and ECE delivery models incorporating community-based organizations.
The New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute will provide new data and analysis on the current state of child care funding in New Hampshire and its implications for the state’s workforce, the economic security of Granite State families, and the early care and education of New Hampshire’s youngest residents.
Two recent examples include NHFPI’s review of the recent changes to New Hampshire’s child care scholarship program expanding family eligibility and increasing provider reimbursement. And, NHFPI’s February 2024 Issue Brief exploring federal and state funding for child care in New Hampshire since 2016 and the stability of the child care industry.
The Foundation’s multi-year investments will enable new, original research on ECE. Furthermore, supported research will leverage deep relationships with the field and state partners to find answers to key questions which will help continuously improve ECE systems for both the young children and for the ECE professionals in our state.
The Couch Family Foundation is proud that these investments are grounded in enhancing and growing collaborative, meaningful relationships between researchers and stakeholders to provide a stronger research foundation that will improve the accessibility, affordability, and quality of New Hampshire’s early care and education system.