Child Care: The Cooperative Way!

How do we move beyond rebuilding child care to reimagine a more resilient system that addresses enduring inequities and provides quality jobs?

Cooperatives — businesses in which ownership and governance are shared by staff and/or clients — have a long history in the United States and around the globe yet only the tiniest footprint in early childhood. The democratic ownership and governance structure of cooperatives is designed to advance the social, cultural, and economic interests of their members and as such, has significant potential to better support the development and aspirations of historically underpaid child care professionals while delivering better outcomes to the young children in their care.

In this workshop co-hosted with The ICA Group and facilitated by ICA Group Child Care Program Director Anne McSweeney, we shared the case for worker cooperatives as a necessary part of redesigning and rebuilding the child care system after the Covid-19 pandemic. The session also included a primer on how cooperatives launch and operate, as well as concrete actions local, state, and federal stakeholders can take to foster cooperative development and build a more equitable child care economy.

Watch the workshop.

Anne McSweeney

Anne McSweeney is a Program Director for ICA’s child care initiatives. Anne works to implement cooperative models that benefit child care business owners and workers, including the development of child care purchasing cooperatives in four states and helping dozens of child care center owners access business supports and explore transitions to worker ownership.Anne believes that cooperatives can raise up the voice and leadership of the child care workforce and improve wages for frontline workers. Through research and policy work, partner and client engagement, business planning, and resource development, Anne is working to build cooperative child care into a national movement.

Prior to joining ICA, Anne spent over five years working in Head Start training and technical assistance, most recently as communications liaison for the Head Start Information and Communications Center, where she worked to raise awareness of the program and translate its policy and practices for parents, policymakers, teachers, and administrators. Anne earned a Master of Public Policy and Administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she conducted nationwide research on child care funding and preschool policy, and a BA in Women’s Studies from Wesleyan University.