Prof. Ha Awarded Grant to Evaluate State Efforts to Incentivize Subsidized Early Care & Education
Prof. Yoonsook Ha from BU School of Social Work received a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to study how states can better support early care and education (ECE) providers who provide subsidized ECE services for low-income families. “Increasing equitable access to high quality ECE is a pressing issue right now,” says Prof. Ha. “Even ECE providers who want to provide subsidized care may not have the means to do so.” ECE providers who participate in the state’s child care subsidy system receive a portion of child care tuition reimbursed by the state for their services. Therefore, by increasing the state subsidy payment rates, states can increase the number of accessible, high quality ECE options to low-income families more quickly. “We are looking forward to providing rigorous evidence on how state efforts to support subsidized ECE could expand low-income families’ equitable access to affordable care,” she added.
Prof. Ha is the principal investigator of the study and will collaborate with co-principal investigators Andrew Bacher-Hicks from BU Wheelock College of Education, and Kate Giapponi Schneider from Brandeis University. The grant will extend for four years with a total budget of $1.6 million.