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NEW: Groundbreaking Report Examines Risks of Private Equity in the Child Care Industry
NWLC and Open Markets Release First Comprehensive Report to Examine Private Equity Tactics in Child Care Industry and Policy Solutions
Washington, DC – The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and Open Markets Institute (OMI) released a groundbreaking new report yesterday on private equity’s role in the child industry.
“Children Before Profits: Addressing the Risks of Private Equity in the Child Care Industry” is the first comprehensive report to outline the risks associated with private equity’s growing interest in child care. The report also includes a policy strategy to increase the supply of child care as a public good, while guarding this industry against financialization and corporate capture.
Click here for an executive summary and here for the full report.
You can also find a two-pager summarizing the report here.
“Private equity’s profit-first model has led to the downfall of numerous companies and jeopardized the health of many industries, including in aging and disability care and housing. We can’t allow these same tactics to take down the child care industry, which is already hanging on by a thread thanks to years of underinvestment. Our report provides concrete solutions to ensure that public funding for child care programs and early educators are used to advance our shared vision for child care, rather than lining the deep pockets of private equity investors,” said Melissa Boteach, Vice President of Child Care/Early Learning and Income Security at NWLC and co-author of the report.
“Open Markets and NWLC have taken a hard look at the many challenges facing our child care industry and have homed in on a significant yet underappreciated risk: private equity. For the first time, we’ve examined how policymakers can use competition policy frameworks to the public money intended for child care programs and workers from being pocketed by greedy financial firms,” said Audrey Stienon, Open Markets Industrial Policy Program Manager and a co-author of the report.
The release of the report was marked by an event with leading elected officials, advocates and organizers, regulators, and researchers. The event included video remarks from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a keynote speech from U.S. Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), as well as panels with FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter and C. Kirabo Jackson, Member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
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