Shared Services Alliance Advances High-Quality Care for Newark-area Children

The Nicholson Foundation has awarded a $173,000 grant to Newark-based Programs for Parents to launch the Greater Newark Shared Services Alliance. The alliance will bring together ten early childhood care and education providers to pool needs and share resources – including staff, information, skills and funds – in order to improve their capacity to provide high quality care. 

As part of The Nicholson Foundation’s strategy to bring innovative models to scale, the Alliance will serve as a pilot program that, if successful, will be replicated in other New Jersey counties. During the first year the Alliance members will embark on a process to identify and investigate additional collaborative cost saving opportunities and develop a business model that will allow future sustainability.

Shared services initiatives are increasingly drawing attention from early childhood care and education leaders and policy-makers. While directors of childcare center typically have backgrounds in child development or education, few have backgrounds in accounting or business management. By pooling resources, centers can efficiently handle these administrative functions. Shared services models provide a firm business footing for centers – allowing them to reallocate their resources to areas that more directly improve outcomes for children and increase school readiness. 

For more information about the Greater Newark Shared Services Alliance and the ten participating centers, please click here.



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