The Crucial Missing Component to Fixing the Childcare System with Jamee Herbert
0:00:00 Alyssa
You're listening to Voices of Your Village and today I got a little fired up on this episode. We get to talk about the crucial missing component to fixing child care systems. I got to hang out with Jamee Herbert. She's the CEO and co -founder of BridgeCare, which is a woman -led software company that helps government agencies and nonprofit organizations manage their early care and education ecosystems. BridgeCare is driven by the mission to make high quality early childhood education accessible and affordable for everyone, especially low -income families and communities of color who often face the most barriers to access. After spending a decade in global advocacy, social enterprise, and systems thinking, Jamee found her passion for creating sustainable solutions to complex societal issues. Her experience as program director for the anti -human trafficking non -profit, Not For Sale, fueled her passion for women's and children's advocacy. After gaining more business experience at ADP, Jamee earned an MBA in Sustainable Systems and focused on integrating social justice within systems thinking. Jamee is a member of the United WE National Commission on Child Care and Women's Entrepreneurship, an organization advancing research and policy solutions to reduce red tape in child care licensing and address the childcare crisis for women entrepreneurs. She holds a certificate in early education leadership from Harvard Graduate School, and when she isn't working, you can find her parenting alongside her husband in the Berkshires. Jamee and I got into this bad boy, and this is not just for you if you work in childcare, if you're a part of the early ed system. It's for you if you want to see a boost in the economy, if you want women to have access to the workforce, if you want sustainable solutions for childcare so that we can support kids' development now in these early years, which means down the road, we end up paying so much less for people. So from a financial perspective, it is for everyone and buckle up because I got a little fired up in this bad boy. All right, let's Let's dive in.
00:02:19 Alyssa
Hey there. I'm Alyssa Blask Campbell. I'm a mom with a master's degree in early childhood education and co -creator of the Collaborative Emotion Processing Method. I'm here to walk alongside you through the messy, vulnerable parts of being humans raising other humans with deep thoughts and actionable tips. Let's dive in together.
00:02:42 Jamee
I have a three and a half year old who I just got back from dropping off at preschool. And I'm pregnant right now.
00:02:50 Alyssa
Oh my gosh. Congrats. Awesome.
00:02:52 Jamee
Thank you. I have a three and a half year old. And 10 and a half. Actually, she's about to be 11 months this week. Nuts.
00:02:59 Alyssa
When are you you due?
00:03:01 Jamee
February 9.
00:03:03 Alyssa
Sick. Coming up?
00:03:04 Jamee
Yeah.
00:03:05 Alyssa
When's your three and a half year old's birthday?
00:03:07 Jamee
March 31.
00:03:08 Alyssa
Oh, Sagey's March 23.
00:03:09 Jamee
Wow.
00:03:10 Alyssa
Wow. Fun. Yeah, it's been a fun. I like the like bigger age gap.
00:03:18 Jamee
Yeah, I feel really good about the bigger age gap. I feel like my son would not have been ready.
00:03:25 Alyssa
Same. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he and he has like, transitioned. Obviously, there's stuff he has to share a space with somebody and his parents and whatever. But he has transitioned to being a sibling way more seamlessly than I anticipated.
00:03:43 Jamee
That's good. That's encouraging.
00:03:44 Alyssa
Yeah. I think it was like, honestly, like his age played such a huge role in the like, skill set of like, receptive and expressive language and navigating the cognitive pieces of it. There was just like more understanding, I think.
00:04:03 Jamee
How old was he when your second was born?
00:04:05 Alyssa
Almost three. So she was born in December, and then he turned three in March.
00:04:10 Jamee
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So pretty close, but a year more.
00:04:14 Alyssa
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Cheers. Do you know if you're having a boy or girl?
00:04:20 Alyssa
We do. We're having a girl.
00:04:22 Alyssa
Ah, that's what we had too.
00:04:24 Jamee
Yeah. So that'll be interesting. I grew up, I have a sister. So it was like two girls. So it'll be interesting to see the mixed gender dynamic there too. And we were a little closer are an age three years apart.
00:04:38 Alyssa
Yeah, okay. I have four brothers. And so for me, it was like all I've known is the mixed gender. And they're very cute to watch together. It's fun.
00:04:52 Jamee
That's awesome.
00:04:53 Alyssa
Yeah, sweet. And where's home for you?
00:04:57 Jamee
I live in Massachusetts now. Western Mass, so in the Berkshires.
00:05:02 Alyssa
Oh, no way, rad. I'm in Burlington, Vermont.
00:05:06 Jamee
Burlington seems cool. I don't, I've actually never been there. And for me, it's just like so far from airports that are big enough to travel. But it was kind of off the table, but it seems like an awesome place to be.
00:05:19 Alyssa
It is a cool little city. It is like, so I feel like Bernie represents the state well in terms of like how we operate as a state. There's just like a collective community action vibe and Burlington's our only like city really and it's a good size for me. I think it's like 60 ,000 and it is like a cute downtown walkable area, kind of like European style where it's like cobblestone like main streets called Church Street where there's shops and restaurants and stuff pop up. And now our big like challenge is as many cities in the nation is the unhoused population and addiction and mental health challenges that have faced so many cities in the nation, especially post COVID. That's really like changed the city vibe that fingies crossed we can, we just, they just actually here in Burlington opened a mental health urgent care. Specifically for mental health, which I think is rad and curious to see how things like that and systems like that can help impact the community.
00:06:36 Jamee
Yeah. The Berkshire's interesting because there's a lot of New York City.
00:06:42 Alyssa
Transplants.
00:06:43 Jamee
Who are up here. So it feels more connected to New York City than Boston, which is interesting. Massachusetts.
00:06:54 Alyssa
Yeah, that's true.
00:06:55 Jamee
But because of how many people come up here and visit so frequently, it feels bigger than the like residential population is. So yeah, Great Barrington is a really, really nice small, but small little city, large town, little area that we live in and around. And fun fact, my husband and I, I don't know if I told you this last time we spoke, but bought an inn when we moved out here.
00:07:23 Alyssa
Oh my gosh, no way. So fun.
00:07:24 Jamee
Yeah. So we're living the Gilmore Girls life.
00:07:29 Alyssa
Okay, how does that work with raising kids?
00:07:33 Jamee
It's great, actually. Yeah. So we just over a year ago, we moved from California, we were near the Bay Area in the Santa Cruz mountains. And we both worked in tech me with BridgeCare. And my husband was in corporate communications at a few different tech companies over the course of his career. And he just decided after he left his last job, he didn't want to do that anymore. And we decided to move back East. And so, yeah, we came across this listing for this Inn and he's like, I want to do this new plan. I don't want to do a job anymore. I want to do this Inn. I was like, all right, you supported me through like my crazy startup journey. So your turn, whatever you want. So yeah, we bought it and it's been really great. It's small. It's only five bedrooms so it's really manageable for him to do – he does the breakfast Wednesday through Sunday.
00:08:32 Alyssa
Yeah. I want to come stay.
00:08:34 Jamee
Yeah. Come stay. He's loving it. Really, really loving it. Loves interacting with the guests. Everyone's been so pleasant, like people from all over the world. Yeah, coming out here to –
00:08:45 Alyssa
And you guys live there?
00:08:47 Jamee
We don't live there.
00:08:48 Jamee
Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. That makes more sense. I was like, how does this work with kids? No. Okay. You run the Inn, but you don't live at the Inn.
00:08:55 Jamee
Yeah. So there are inns that have like a separate property, a separate structure on the property where you could have like your own space. We entertained the idea for like, I would say he entertained the idea, and I was always like, that's not going to work. But we did live there for the first eight months while we were getting it ready to open. And yeah, it's just like we have a dog, a cat and a toddler, like too loud for guests to have a pleasant experience. And we would have been in like one room, one bedroom with a living room. So there is an innkeeper quarters, but it's, we have someone who lives there who is the overnight person, the go -to in case anyone needs anything, but my husband's like the true innkeeper.
00:09:38 Alyssa
Got it. Okay. Oh my gosh. Fun. What a fun fact.
00:09:42 Jamee
We might have put like a tiny house or something on it and done that. But it just wasn't big enough. So yeah, but we just live 10 minutes down the road.
00:09:51 Alyssa
Jamee, what a fun fact. So you mentioned BridgeCare, which is how I found you and how we got connected here. I have so many questions about BridgeCare. But can you first lead me into like, I guess for folks break down like the overview, your elevator pitch, like what is BridgeCare? And I'm curious about like, what brought you to create it?
00:10:14 Jamee
Yeah, so what is BridgeCare today is the infrastructure data and technology infrastructure for the child care and public pre -K sector. And most people don't think about that at all in their day to day. So like, what does that even mean? We work with governments, states, counties, cities, and also nonprofits who play this role in making sure we have a childcare sector at all, really, in order to be a childcare provider, like some people call it a daycare, right, or a preschool, but the broader term we use is childcare. In order to be able to even have that kind of business or operate like that, you have to be licensed. And there's, you know, safety monitoring and making sure the space is safe for children, that people have background checks, right, there's just a whole, process that the government administers around that. So that requires software to do that. There are subsidy programs that help make sure that families who can't afford childcare have financial assistance to pay for childcare. It is woefully insufficient and there's lots of gaps, but that also requires software to implement. There are programs around making sure that the child care that is offered is of high quality and helping to provide resources to child care providers to increase their quality around training and education and qualifications, certifications and tracking that and then making that transparent for families looking for care so that they can better understand what their options are. Helping them find it and then all the data that helps the system just know like, how do we better serve our community? Where are the gaps and how do we help fill those gaps? And ideally to what's working and what's not working and how do we better invest the limited funds we have cause we need more into work that is working rather than putting money into stuff that's not actually having the impact we want. So we do all of that with a modular software system and day in and day out families and providers use our software, but they're not our direct clients but we work with across 14 states, over 500,000 families, 50,000 providers across the country.
00:12:35 Alyssa
So incredible. So it's all this like behind the scenes stuff that people, you're right, don't often encounter or really take into account. Like we just show up and we're like, we need childcare, right? As parents or as teachers, we're like, we're going to go work at a school. And there's so much infrastructure that happens behind the scenes. And I have the privilege of serving on the Let's Grow Kids board here in Vermont, where we do our whole mission. Actually, we're sunsetting at the end of next year. Our whole thing is access to high quality, affordable childcare for all Vermonters. And we worked to pass Act 76 last year, and now so many families have access to childcare subsidy that didn't before. And we are now working on making sure that we can adequately support staff and teachers with pay so that we can have a workforce and all that jazz. And so much of what we do is kind of the behind the scenes of that, but we're also talking about things like infrastructure, what does it look like? And it's so interesting, because I feel like I sit in this triangle where I've had, I've experience as a parent, I have experience as an early childhood educator working in the system, and then I have experience on the behind the scenes level from a systems perspective. And I think of things like when I, and I've worked in different, I've worked in three different states as an early child care teacher and, and director. And so I've seen how different states systems work and like things from like trainings we have to take and those being counted for to regulations, et cetera, to folks being able to even find out like, is there an available slot open at this childcare? And that being available on a state level. And then as a parent, I had a child who received early intervention and I had dreams around like, oh my gosh, instead of a paper trail, what would this look like if tech was involved? And I could log into like a portal and see, okay, here's all of the appointments he's had and here's what we've been going over, here's our goals, here's everything tracked in a way that is user -friendly and supports families. And now I have these dreams around like accessing tech support for child care subsidy. We have now in Vermont, we have a mixed delivery system. And so looking at like what's available where for funding, whether you are accessing it for tuition assistance, or you are trying to apply for a grant as a child care provider and you're like, okay, is this from this organization, do I go to that organization for this grant? Where does it live? there's so many people involved in supporting childcare. And I think sometimes it becomes this like too many cooks in the kitchen situation and infrastructure is what brings us all together. So first of all, thank you, Jamee, as a human just living and breathing this world and this work. And yeah, what, why, why did you start it? What brought you here?
00:15:41 Jamee
Well, what brought me here, you know, still drives me, but it has, what keeps me here has definitely evolved. Like you said, I mean, the good news is the more things that we do for the sector, like more funding for care, more funding for pre -K, more resources for providers, often those things just create more fragmentation too. they're not through necessarily the same entity or the same process or the same application or whatever. And all these parents who are, you know, mostly brand new to this experience of what do I even have to think about here? What is happening, right? Or you have a child needs early intervention, like never thought of that world before and all the resources you have to navigate for that and advocacy you have to have for your child, learning you need to do about what they're encountering, it's a lot. And, and because of that fragmentation, when you don't have a good system, with a great user experience and coordination around it, it ends up putting that burden on the families and the providers who have to figure out how to navigate it. So I mean, I'm super passionate about making it that yes, we increase the supports, but we don't do that at the expense of the burden of the families and providers who are trying to just find their way through it. And at the end of the day, like just get the support that's meant to serve them. Because we actually fail to reach them often when it does become that difficult. And you see that, you know, incredible resources are sometimes really underutilized too, because they're just so hard to navigate. But what got me into this was really more around gender equity in the workplace lens. I actually did not have children when I started this work.
00:17:28 Alyssa
Same
00:17:28 Jamee
I now have a three and a half year old and pregnant again. But when I came to it, I was really more from the perspective of being a woman in the workplace and learning about this issue of lack of child care affordability. I was living in the Bay Area at the time, which was like exceptionally expensive and really difficult to get into for infant care especially, but really across the board. And I just had this realization of like, I'm going to become that statistic more than likely, right, of women who leave the workforce because they couldn't find affordable, high -quality early care and education that they felt good about sending their child to and not guilty about. So lots of different reasons that that all happens, right? But, but what I just heard was time and time again, of these stories of women who have really incredible careers and were really passionate about the work they did, but felt like they were having to compromise for their child and their family to pursue it, and almost that they'd be selfish to do so. Or not almost, right? They felt like it was a choice between my child or myself. And I didn't want that to be my reality. And I didn't want it to other people's reality. And I saw lack of affordability of care as a really critical component to making that possible. So that's where I got into this, how do we make care more accessible for families? Also, because I just believe we need more women in the C -suite, more women in positions of power to change the world in the way that I want to see it be. And so-
00:19:08 Alyssa
Tough conversation to have today.
00:19:10 Jamee
Yes. Day following the election. Yes, where we've had our second attempt at a woman president not succeed. And yeah, I think, and what consequence that has on on our childcare sector, you know, I know, from personally having tried to raise funding for this business around care, you know, often pitching to male investors who just really did not identify with understanding what is childcare? Why is it important? Is there even a problem here? Like they just really didn't understand the issue. And that spans all kinds of areas of, of childcare issues. But also more broadly, I think, you know, representation does matter in that sense, of folks being able to connect to the problems that are being experienced. So yeah, that's why that's how I set on this path. But since BridgeCare has evolved, and so has my, you know, much more complex understanding of the ecosystem. And what drives me day in and day out now is just how, how intersectional the issue of child care is, and how, you know, near every issue in our society around, you know, racism, sexism, classism, education, are connected to this work. And, and just a deep belief that making that investment in our, in our youngest children and our future is just the most likely to move the needle in all the areas that we want to have impact. So
00:20:45 Alyssa
100 % and I could, like I will die on this hill and beat a dead horse around the crucial time period of birth to five and how we funnel a lot of money in the years beyond five is a reactive standpoint, reacting to what we didn't fund in the birth to five world. It's not even like maybe that's true. There's really good research around it. And if we were to adequately fund the early childhood space, we would drastically reduce costs beyond five and not even just like kindergarten to 12th grade, like beyond that, 18 plus, like all the way until you die. And it is just mind boggling to me. It's like just a, it's a math problem. Like it's just math. And it is so hard for me to wrap my brain around just looking at math and saying no to that, it's really hard for me to understand. So when we're looking at this from an infrastructure standpoint, say we're like, okay, yes, there is value in high quality early childhood access for all and for systems to run smoothly. Can you break down as you're working in this space from an infrastructure standpoint, what does infrastructure most commonly look like behind the scenes right now for early childhood ed? And then what are the effects of that?
00:22:24 Jamee
Yeah. So we deal with all different parts of the system. But one example is around helping families find care, right? Just like where is the licensed child care out there? Or where are the preschool programs that I could attend that are publicly funded. And in a lot of places, there just there really is no coordinated effort around that. So there is a requirement from federal funding that there's like some list of the licensed child care providers that states have to make available. But it's getting better. It definitely is. But I mean, especially when we started this work a few years ago, in this area of our work, you know, it'd be like a PDF download or an Excel spreadsheet, or, you know, maybe at best a more of a database listing of providers who have infractions and it was it was really oriented around like compliance and safety and monitoring, which is valuable information, but not really that it's just not given in a way it's helpful for families to search for their needs in a way you would like a restaurant or an Airbnb, or, you know, just the kind of standard of software experience that people are used to in every sector basically except childcare. Yeah, just, there's no map, right? There's no like other qualifications filters to meet my needs. It really was just like, here's your list. Go figure it out.
00:23:56 Alyssa
Yeah, best of luck to you. Yeah and that's if you could find the list.
00:24:00 Jamee
Yeah, right.
00:24:01 Alyssa
You need the right website to go to to find the list.
00:24:04 Jamee
Absolutely. They, Yeah, I think government is just kind of notorious for really not thinking about how might someone find me? Right? They kind of just like put it up and make it available and check that box but aren't really thinking about the human user experience of like, what would I be searching for? How would I come across this?
00:24:27 Alyssa
Right. Well, and I think when you're living and breathing it, you're like, well, of course, this is where you go. Like when you're in this world, you're like, well, we do have that. You go to childcare resource and that's where you find it. And it feels like a no -brainer to us because we are living and breathing it. But if you're a new parent who's never, ever heard of childcare resource and you're like, I didn't know that even exists. Like what? What is the CDD? right? Like all of these things that are just so very new to you.
00:24:56 Jamee
Exactly. That's exactly what I was gonna say. They're just immersed in their own world of government process or the resources, and they're so familiar with it that they're just not even used to thinking about what it's like to not think about it. I think there has been a lot of progress in that area over the past, you know, really through the pandemic because we had to get better, because, you know, the workforce couldn't show up to treat patients and work at grocery stores and meet essential needs. And so we definitely saw leaps and bounds of progress, I would say, but there's still a really long way to go.
00:25:32 Alyssa
Yeah, yeah. And so when we're looking at that infrastructure piece, like, like we just said, like, if you don't, and childcare resources space here in Vermont that I'm referencing, but if you don't know where to go for that. What do you do? And it's like, I'm just like Google searching random things. Or for us, it's often there's a Facebook group that people will pop into and be like, Hey, I'm looking for childcare for this. And there are directors of programs in these Facebook groups saying like, Oh, we have an opening we have an insight. This is the system. We're using a Facebook group. And like what that is how this is traveling. And it's bonkers. I am curious when we when we do create solid infrastructure. Can you give us an example of how that streams streamlines processes for a user, whether it's for an early childhood educator provider, or for a family? Like what might that look like in a world that's different than what we have right now?
00:26:30 Jamee
Yeah, so one, I would say very emerging area of interest from our government, nonprofit, and really just kind of advocacy folks, is this consolidation of the family experience. Like we were talking about earlier, there are so many resources. There are so many providers out there, but without the consolidation, it's really difficult. And so there's there's this growing movement toward like coordinated eligibility or coordinated enrollment are kind of terms used. But BridgeCare has a product we call hub, which is a family hub where a state or region, whoever, but ideally the state because it could just really be consolidated can list all of the programs that a family or whoever they're kind of responsible for. Like, for example, if it's Department of Early Childhood, that'd be like any early childhood related programs. Be under that.
00:27:34 Alyssa
From like getting tuition assistance to early intervention to food services to whatever, anything you might need access to.
00:27:43 Jamee
Yeah, home visitation.
00:27:44 Alyssa
Yep. Okay.
00:27:45 Jamee
Some things you qualify for, some things everyone is available to access, right? And just put it all in one place. So, for example, Colorado has an initiative called Unified Family Experience, and it's 20 different programs and one really short kind of eligibility screener where you can just see all the things that you could qualify for in one place.
00:28:10 Alyssa
So cool. Yeah. So it's like a one -stop shop rather than like... This is something that comes up in the early childhood sector a lot, where I just actually was picking my child up from school the other day and the assistant director came over and was like, hey, do you know if there's grant funding we need for this specific thing? And she's like, do you know, I think I heard about a grant from somewhere. Do you know which organization was putting those out? Because there's like four different organizations that might be putting out a grant for early childhood educators or directors or whatever to access. And it's like, okay, go to this website. Nope, it's not there. Go to this website. Nope, it's not there. Versus like, yeah, everything is compiled on the backend and we do the heavy lifting on the backend from a tech perspective so that an early childhood educator program provider can show up and say like, oh, here's everything that's accessible.
00:29:02 Jamee
Yes.
00:29:03 Alyssa
And this is everything that's available throughout the state. And they don't have to do, it doesn't even matter to them if it's coming from one organization or the other. For them, they just need access to the grant. And yeah, so streamlining that information right now, this, oh my gosh, Jamee, we need it so badly. Right now, our systems are really dependent on the user to find the information. And if you are an early childhood educator, you're not like, you know what I have? Spare time and capacity to go find that information. If you are a parent, you're also not like, you know what I got? Spare time. Can't wait to comb the internet for this information. That isn't a thing that any of us have. And so I see it as like, it is a state's responsibility to put this out there, especially for equity and inclusion.
00:30:02 Jamee
100%. Yeah. It's basically like your air traffic control for all things. Either, and you really want to center it around who, who's the user, who's the stakeholder that we're thinking about here, whether that's, that's a parent, or a guardian, right, or that's a provider. So a lot of times, people will call it like a family hub, or, or a family portal, or a provider portal. But just because they call it that doesn't mean it's actually serving that need. So really having it be the place that is first of all, great user experience that people want to come to that it has the content, but it's really an education tool, right? It's a it's a education and directional tool. Like, where do you just go for this to see all the things that can help me? That's one way of improvement. Another
00:30:54 Jamee
way is like, well, for example, the quality initiatives and a lot of case, the quality initiatives. A lot of resources go into the QRS or QIS programs that are administered by states and they have often very low participation among providers because there's just not a lot of incentive for them. And families are just completely unaware of what they are and what they mean a lot of the time. And so they're just kind of often missing the mark in what they're trying to accomplish. And that's such a bummer, right?
00:31:33 Alyssa
Such a bummer, because it's like, yeah, we're going to put so much, and I serve on committees on the back end that are often looking at like, how do we increase quality? What are the things that need to be in place? And we're doing all this heavy lifting on the back end for it not to be done to fidelity.
00:31:48 Jamee
Yeah, exactly, for it to not work for the objectives. And so we have tools that help think more about how do we educate families? How do we make this usable for them? How do we make it understandable for them? And how do we make it better for providers to interact with? And there's a lot of mix of policy in this, like we can't solve everything with software, but sometimes more than you would think falls really short because of the implementation of how the great policy gets actually implemented.
00:32:23 Alyssa
I have a question on the data side. You mentioned using data and that it's imperative to continue to fund and support programs and things that are working and not pour a bunch of money into stuff that isn't working. What kind of data have you seen provide the most benefit to early childhood education?
00:32:44 Jamee
Well, I always love the example of Alabama's first -class pre -K program because it is a success story, like you were saying earlier. Like, how do you look at the data and just not do it? Like A plus B equals C, it's right here, you know, and there is so much of that, that is frustrating and disheartening. But there, there are bright spots of the data actually compelling progress. And in Alabama's first class pre K program, that program grows year over year, and is repeatedly number one high highest quality rated state pre K program in the country, because they made the case of reduced costs for third graders, I believe it is. They did a study around it and proved that to the legislature and then they were able to get -
00:33:35 Alyssa
So to like break that down, what you're saying by reduced costs for third graders is we're saying if you pour into these kids early, we see that by third grade, we're not spending as much money on them as if you -
00:33:46 Jamee
Absenteeism.
00:33:47 Alyssa
Yeah, okay.
00:33:48 Jamee
Yeah, just school readiness is improved and so it reduces cost
00:33:54 Alyssa
Yeah down the line
00:33:55 Jamee
For years, which is exactly what you were saying, right. And there are studies around that, but it was very targeted to this program. They I believe they started using personal development grant funds to get it going. But have since fully taken that on, I believe now it is fully funded by the state of Alabama. And it's grown year over year, they continue year over year to increase the number of seats and number of children they're able to support because it's been so successful. And, you know, in the state of Alabama, data is the way that they have gotten there. It's not, you know, it's not a notoriously progressive state where they're just flooding money.
00:34:30 Alyssa
No, not, not known for its progressive nature. Sure. Yeah.
00:34:35 Jamee
As it is, the cold hard facts of costs and what it has done for down the line. And that's what's compelled and kept it growing.
00:34:45 Alyssa
Why are states often working from inaccurate data? And like, what challenges does that create them? Like, why? Why isn't everyone like, yeah, just show me the data and let's go?
00:34:56 Jamee
Well, unfortunately, a lot of times the data doesn't exist. Like a lot of times they don't have the data they need to make that case, which is why that's such a critical component to our mission.
00:35:05 Alyssa
And so what are you guys doing to get like, what data are you gathering to paint that picture?
00:35:10 Jamee
I mean, and this is where, like I said, the implementation just falls short. It's kind of, it's mind numbing. It's hard to fathom in a world where most people are interacting with like, you know, modern software every single day, to think about the legacy systems that government uses, and to be like, what, you can't do what? But that's, that's the biggest barrier.
00:35:35 Alyssa
Like paper applications and whatever. I was speaking to someone where it's like, the early intervention services were tracked on an Excel spreadsheet, right?
00:35:44 Jamee
Yes. And also, they just have old systems, even if it's not on paper, that just like don't store the data in a certain way or can't be shared or can't be integrated. So there's just a lot of structural limitations. Definitely papers and spreadsheets are used widely.
00:36:01 Alyssa
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But so what, I guess, like, want to get down to the nitty gritty of like, what types of data are you collecting? Like for one thing that comes up for me, for instance, is like, okay, if kids are receiving early intervention, do we see that then we need fewer services for them in kindergarten to fifth grade, like in elementary school? Like that would be something of interest for me to know if we're gonna fund early intervention, is it working? Right, like that would be something of interest for me to know, but what other types of data are you collecting to make informed decisions?
00:36:38 Jamee
I mean, in that case, I think it's a lot of, you have to have forethought on what data you wanna collect to like think about these things, particularly if you wanna do longitudinal data studies, which is where what you're talking about, where you track, okay, this happened when they were two, and then when they're 10, here's what, you know, and in our fractured governmental system, those are different departments, they're different agencies, sometimes they work well together, usually they don't. You have to deal with data sharing agreements. And there, and that just wasn't how things were done, right? Historically, there is so much more movement toward that there's a lot of energy for it. But there's still a lot of dysfunction of departments working together, because it's kind of like, you really have to have really strong leadership at the end of the day, to force that collaboration. So I would say in that example, systems are problematic, but actually probably more cross -department.
00:37:36 Alyssa
Yeah, we find that.
00:37:38 Jamee
The population is challenging. But then an example that we deal with day in and day out is like supply and demand. Like where is the child, you know, in the pandemic, it was like, we don't even know who's open, you know, or we don't know where any of the spots are. And still that's the case. It just was hypercritical then. But, you know, when you think about supply and demand, which is how many children under the age of five or how many infants need care and are actually looking for care, right, or their families are looking for care for them. And then how many providers have openings for that meet that need. That's what we call supply and demand.
00:38:13 Alyssa
And what's the gap?
00:38:15 Jamee
And what's the gap, right? Or where do we have an oversupply? And we should, you know, work with providers to adjust that so that they can fill their seats and make more money and his needs can be met. But without the our software, which does provide that for them, providers can update their opening information, connect even with their child care management software to create that real -time feedback loop. And then we know where families are looking for care, so we can provide that data dashboard picture for them. But up until basically BridgeCare, it was a comparison of census data, which is how many four -year -olds are there or how many infants are there based on census. But that doesn't mean that they're actually in need of care. And then what is the license supply, which in some states they do break that down by age group, but in others they don't. So then it provides even less information. But even then we know that that's a very flawed number because a lot of providers are operating under their actual license capacity for various different reasons. It's really about like what the building can support, but not what their staffing can support or what their business if they
00:39:24 Alyssa
Or if they can access enough staff.
00:39:25 Jamee
Right, yeah, exactly. So, and in the day, and especially in today's staffing crisis, which is just getting more and more, it becomes even less useful of a number. So, and there's also no tracking of that, by the way, of where their staffing issues and where who's understaffed and all that. So, those numbers are really difficult because we know anecdotally, oh, there's, you know, we don't have enough infant care to meet the needs. We talk about childcare deserts, but that's based on those flawed numbers. And it's really hard to go to, or it's really generally unsuccessful, I should say, not just hard to go to the legislature and say, there's a problem here. This is the problem, we need to fix it. And they can just poke all kinds of holes in it. Because they say, Well, what if the parents what if the moms really just want to stay home? And what if, you know, there's actually not that need, and it's not irrefutable data, right, to make the case because it's flawed or insufficient.
00:40:24 Alyssa
Versus like, yeah, no, we actually have this data, these parents would enter the workforce, which would boost the economy. And they just can't access care to do that. And if they had access to care, and here's what it costs to access care. Yeah. Oh, love this. Oh, man, I love math. I love math. Like when I'm having a hard emotions day, I'm like, give me a spreadsheet because numbers don't lie, they just are. And it just makes sense to me and it's like calming. Oh, Jamee, you're speaking my language. I'm jazzed that you're invested in this and that you're like diving into this issue because it is something that exists across sectors. What currently is the biggest barrier you encounter or to creating sustainable infrastructure in spaces?
00:41:20 Jamee
Well, you know -
00:41:22 Alyssa
Why isn't everyone like, yep, let's go.
00:41:24 Jamee
Yeah. Well, first of all, it's a bit dry, right? Like, I mean, there's a lot more -
00:41:30 Alyssa
It depends, I'm fired up.
00:41:32 Jamee
For people who really, really are like in this world, they're like, oh, wow, that's amazing. Yeah, but it takes, first of all, it takes some time to explain like, what is it even and what does it need? And there's so much more momentum and really as there should be, right? Around funding, the, the care itself and wages for, for providers. And what we do is kind of the backdrop to it all, the advocacy is really more around what we implement, not the implementation itself. So I think there's, there's that right, it's just like, there's just not a lot of energy around this part. And it's when there's limited energy to go around, it should it should be there, right. The other thing is, There's just a lot of like legacy entrenched systems, there's a lot of resistance to change. This is getting really boring, but like government procurement is difficult and takes a long time and there are some very, very large companies that have pretty entrenched
00:42:35 Alyssa
Relationships
00:42:37 Jamee
Yeah, and contracts. And, and that's, you know, the folks, the top aren't necessarily the people day to day using the systems. And sometimes there's disconnect between them, and actually can go either way. Sometimes the people using this, the legacy systems are like, well, this is what I know. And this is what feels safe and change is hard. And sometimes they're the ones advocating for different because they're fed up with it. And they see the flaws. So it Yeah, it's hard, you know, like any other aspect, it's hard to make change. But I will say that I think that the fact that just the constituents, people, parents, providers, have just so much less tolerance for bad software, bad systems. It's like they're just kind of in the past, really, like, I really feel like this is through the pandemic.
00:43:32 Alyssa
Well, just a new generation of parents who have grown up with more tech.
00:43:36 Jamee
Yeah. They're like, what is this garbage and why is this the best we can do, you know?
00:43:41 Alyssa
Yeah, exactly. It's like when I get on Spotify and I want to change my plan and I'm like, I can't do it on the app. What do you mean I can't do it on the app? I have to go on to a website. Never doing that. I literally did not upgrade on my Spotify that I wanted to upgrade for three full years because every time I thought about it, I was on my phone on the app and I'm like, this is insane to me. Right. But like it would not cross even my oldest brother's sphere of like insane because we grew up with different levels of tech. And so I think that like that's an interesting driver, especially looking at a younger workforce. And yeah, a new generation of parents who are just like, no, this system is antiquated.
00:44:24 Jamee
Yeah. Like how millennials only make large purchases on the computer.
00:44:28 Alyssa
Yeah. So good. Like, oh, I'm going to book this travel. I got I cannot do this on my phone.
00:44:35 Jamee
Expensive.
00:44:36 Alyssa
So good. So real.
00:44:38 Jamee
Yeah, the idea of having to fax in or drop off paper, like, most people don't have a printer. No, certainly never used a fax machine, right? Like, for me to have to mail something.
00:44:52 Alyssa
It's not happening happening.
00:44:53 Jamee
I'm not.
00:44:54 Alyssa
It's not happening. Yeah. Okay, wait, Jamee, I have an embarrassing story to tell. I just yesterday went to mail a check in a contract for something, and I pulled out an envelope from my desk, in the drawer of my desk, and it had something in it. And I was like, weird. And it is a childcare waitlist check that I had dated in June of this year. We're in November, that just never got mailed.
00:45:27 Jamee
Oh, yeah. I have way worse story than that.
00:45:30 Alyssa
I just like what
00:45:31 Jamee
I have things that sit for years that are just like, oops, well, I guess
00:45:34 Alyssa
I'm like, I need her on that waitlist. It is a priority for me. And I was just like, even something that feels like a high priority for me. It involved sending a check in the mail. And it just didn't happen.
00:45:48 Jamee
Yeah. Which is also like, why did? Why did you have to? I mean, and that's where it's not just it's not just the government, right? Like the whole childcare sector, including the childcare businesses are so behind majority, correct?
00:46:01 Alyssa
A lot of them when I hear and I we, you know, we work with childcare providers. And I was like, I really the next course I want to create, which has nothing to do with social emotional development, but will expand a provider's capacity to support social emotional development is around enrollment, waitlist and parent communication, I'm like, you should never have to send an email that you're writing or that's from a template you copy and paste as a response to somebody inquiring about the waitlist or getting added to the waitlist or whatever, like, this all needs to be automated. All of it. And then -
00:46:45 Jamee
They sometimes make it actually intentionally difficult because they're so overwhelmed. Some providers, right? Because they're so overwhelmed by the demand for the waitlist that they don't want.
00:46:56 Alyssa
Not what I have heard from directors when I'm like, excuse me, tell me how this works. And they're like, yeah. And I'm like, okay, I'm just gonna, we're just gonna real quick set up a system here where when they submit on this waitlist, they're getting added automatically to this space for you. And they're getting an automated response from you so that they feel heard, and with next steps of what to expect. And they're like, oh my God, you can do that? We're like, yeah, we can do that.
00:47:20 Jamee
I mean, I do think, I think just like government has come around more and more, I think providers have too. I mean, early on it was like, I couldn't possibly make it easy. Our wait list would be so long, we couldn't even manage it, you know? But also that's probably like, yes, and you actually wouldn't have to manage it because it would be managed by the software, right? So it's also a change and shift in thinking.
00:47:42 Alyssa
And we even added in, like for one program, an automated email that would come up every three months. It's like, are you still interested in being on this wait list? If yes, click here. If you need to change your age group, click here. If you want to be removed from this wait list, click here. And so then you also aren't reaching out to families that found care a year and a half ago. Just things that we could free up our time to do.
00:48:08 Jamee
Another area, right, of data, right, where if you don't have good software actually updated, then the wait lists are also not reliable measures because they're over.
00:48:17 Alyssa
Like I needed an infant spot on my kids, three now. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, I feel like I could do this with you forever and I'm super stoked to get to learn about BridgeCare and the infrastructure work that you're doing. Because as I just stated in that example of like a child care center, when we have a system that can do a lot of this work that people are manually doing that doesn't have to be done that's now piecemealed. A, it can be more streamlined and efficient and accurate and B, it can free us up to do the work that we should be doing that actually is going to affect quality and support the tiny humans in our space. And right now we have people spending way too much time doing essentially like busy work that is so piecemealed and hard to navigate, that they're being pulled out of the work they should be doing. So thank you. Thank you for creating this. Thank you for bringing it. And my hope is that folks who are tuning in can be advocates for this. I know I personally have gone to places in Vermont and said, we need this infrastructure. And we are not going to have a sustainable system without new infrastructure. And your one voice, whether you're a parent or you're a teacher or you're a provider or you are working in state systems, matters. And you can use it. And so if folks are wanting to use it and saying like, yeah, this makes total sense, I want to reach out to somebody with more information about this or garner more information or know where to send them, what are those next steps, Jamee? Where can they find you and share about y 'all?
00:50:07 Jamee
Yeah, so where they can find me and BridgeCare is I'm most active on LinkedIn. So definitely follow me there. We post a lot about our thoughts on, you know, BridgeCare's position and my thoughts on the general industry and what's happening that's good and where there needs to be progress and examples of bright spots of our clients doing really awesome stuff. Bridge care, you can find us at getbridgecare.com. And also follow us on LinkedIn. But, you know, really the best thing that families and providers can do, and just the general public is just not be quiet about your frustrations with your experience. You know, earlier, you asked, why isn't this happening everywhere? I think it's just the voices where the voices aren't loud enough, right? But where the voices are loud, change is happening and systems are being implemented that make things better, which ultimately are just so necessary for making sure the people who need the resources that are out there get them. It is not a small part of the equation. So, you know, complain, be loud, say this is not acceptable, we need better, we deserve better, both in terms of amount of funding, but also in terms of the systems that support that.
00:51:23 Alyssa
Thank you so much. I am so grateful for you, and folks, go check out BridgeCare, follow them on LinkedIn. Get loud. Get loud and don't stop being loud. Thank you very much, Jamee.
00:51:39 Jamee
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
00:51:41 Alyssa
Stay tuned after this note from our sponsors. Rach and I will be right back with the breakdown.
00:51:44
[Music]
00:51:50 Rachel
It's got to be the lack of sunlight, but I am just so tired.
00:51:59 Alyssa
Okay. I don't want to say anything I'm like nervous to, but up until like four days ago, I was averaging five to six hours of sleep because of my daughter. And the last four nights, since I've gotten seven to nine hours of sleep.
00:52:20 Rachel
Wow.
00:52:21 Alyssa
Yesterday was her first day ever, which we did not plan of her doing one nap. And she just then refused her second nap. And her first nap had been like kind of late enough that it was like, all right, I guess we just ride this out. She usually goes to bed around 8, 8:30. Last night, she went to bed at 6:40. So we're like, cool, we're gonna see her at like 4 a .m. She nursed twice. She nursed at like 11:30 and then she nursed at like 4:30, so two like five -hour stretches. And then at 4:30, she was like fighting. She didn't want to go back down. So I tapped out to Zach and he did get her back down and she woke up at 7:40.
00:53:08 Rachel
Wow.
00:53:11 Alyssa
I woke up in the sevens and I panicked because I was like, oh my gosh, what's going on? And I looked at the monitor and she's still asleep and I was like, is she alive? Right? Like what?
00:53:24 Rachel
Oh, yeah. Is she breathing?
00:53:25 Alyssa
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So she also took her first step and a half independently yesterday.
00:53:37 Rachel
Wow. Crazy.
00:53:39 Alyssa
Crazy. So I'm not trying to say a lot out loud because I'm nervous.
00:53:45 Rachel
You're rested right now.
00:53:47 Alyssa
For the first time in two years, year and a half, 20 months.
00:53:54 Rachel
Yeah.
00:53:55 Alyssa
Turns out that matters for my mental health because I woke up a couple of days ago after my first time of having seven plus hours of sleep in a very long time. And I was like, oh, I don't hate everyone around me. I've just been tired.
00:54:11 Rachel
Yeah. It's like when I'm PMSing and I'm like, why do I hate my family? And then I'm like, oh, That's why.
00:54:19 Alyssa
Yeah. Yeah. I had that where I was like, oh, because I stopped sleeping when I was pregnant with her. I had pretty bad insomnia with her. Right from the jump. Yeah. It's been a very long time.
00:54:32 Rachel
It's been a long time. Mm -hmm.
00:54:34 Alyssa
Yeah. Sorry that you're tired.
00:54:39 Rachel
I don't know what is going on. Like I... Well, Cody being sick for a week, I think is part of it.
00:54:45 Alyssa
Oh, yeah. So, what? He just like stopped being sick?
00:54:49 Rachel
Well, he needed amoxicillin, not doxy. So like they thought it was tick -borne. He tested negative for strep because the rapid tests only pick up on one strain of strep, which is not what he had. He also had a double ear infection. Like double ear infection and strep. I'm like, are you a toddler? Do grownups get this?
00:55:11 Alyssa
Yeah, when it sits for that long.
00:55:14 Rachel
Yeah. So anyway, he needed to be on amoxicillin for a couple of days before he could come back to life. So I think that, the darkness.
00:55:28 Alyssa
The just like so much work right now with the book.
00:55:33 Rachel
Yeah. Plus it's like Cody's birthday, my mom's birthday, Nora's birthday's next month. So I'm like trying to like plan all these things. There's like special events going on at school. Just like, like yesterday was Abel's Thanksgiving party. I totally forgot about it. Luckily, I hadn't like volunteered to bring anything, but we didn't have to pack him lunch, but we did anyway. And I was like, wow, I'm so forgetful. And I'm like, hold on, hold on a second. There are two of us in this, two adults in this family, like Cody's not shaming himself for forgetting, nor should he, and neither should I.
00:56:05 Alyssa
Yeah. Isn't that funny?
00:56:07 Rachel
So there's that epiphany. But yeah, I just feel like I'm carrying a lot for my family right now and with the holidays coming up and 10 ,000 birthdays, yeah, just in it.
00:56:24 Alyssa
Yeah. Yeah. This is like birthday heavy season for you. your birthday is next month, your sister's January, it's like November through mid -January for your family is crazy. Yeah, plus it's holidays. So it's like, it's not just birthdays, it's like - Figuring out how we're balancing holidays between both families. And I got like a message from my mother -in -law yesterday that she wants to take family pictures on Saturday with like color -coded outfits. Like, I can't, I don't know if I can do that. I'm just going to have to do my best.
00:57:01 Alyssa
It's all you can do, Rach. It's all you can do. I looked around our house and realized we have no, we have a bunch of pictures. I'm like, I like having pictures of our family and whatever around our house.
00:57:13 Rachel
Yeah, you do a good job at that.
00:57:15 Alyssa
Well, this is what I was just going to say. I did a good job at that when I was a mom of one and there is not a picture of Beans in our house. And so I just scheduled family photos because now she also, she's very into looking at all of them. And I'm like, at some point, she's going to be like, why aren't I in any of these pictures? So I just scheduled family photos with Heather. And she, what I love about pictures with her is that she does, there's different options, but the one that I choose is the like, essentially like moment in your real life where she just comes to our house.
00:57:49 Rachel
A lifestyle session.
00:57:50 Alyssa
Yeah. She just comes to our house and catches it in the real and Sagey is very comfortable with her. So he is able to still be himself and it's just us in our real rawness and not posed and whatever. And I love that. I love those types of pictures. So I have that coming in hot here, which I'm grateful for.
00:58:15 Rachel
I have dropped the ball with able to. Like, I have so many albums of Nora as a baby. So many. And even like as a toddler and whatever else. I have one album of like Abel's birth, which was photographed and I like printed that out and like, woo, check. That's it. That's all she wrote.
00:58:31 Alyssa
And then I had a postpartum depression and we're just gonna get through this one. There will be no album.
00:58:36 Rachel
Yeah, sorry, Abel. I do love you so, so much, but we have to document it.
00:58:42 Alyssa
So, so real. Who is this breakdown about?
00:58:45 Rachel
Okay, this is Jamee Herbert, BridgeCare.
00:58:49 Alyssa
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:58:51 Rachel
This was so up your alley, like this whole, you're such a systems person. So I want to hear your thoughts.
00:58:59 Alyssa
Yeah. I just think like, I have the privilege of working on kind of backend systems here in our state of Vermont. And I think that what's so kind of like frustrating about it are the hoops that like, have to be jumped through. And it's like, y 'all, this my like entrepreneurial spirit butts up against like government, and the like logistics of going through government protocols and whatever. And it's like, yeah, of course we should have this database of kids who have a universal ID so that we can see like, is early intervention working? What are we seeing down the road? How is that paying off? What are systems we can tweak? Are there certain childcare programs kids are going to that we're seeing like, wow, they show up into kindergarten ready to thrive and other programs where we're seeing like, oh, those programs need our attention more and need more support from us as a state. Like, I'm such a data junkie, I don't like to do things just because. I want to make sure it's effective and that we are not wasting our time. And when we talk about it with Seed all the time, like the Seed cert, I have no desire to do stuff just to do it. I want to make sure it's helping people and they're engaging in it and it's supporting them on the ground in practical ways. like if somebody feels like they don't have the capacity to watch the workshops, cool. What's our job here to make things more accessible? How can we do that? Or if they're like, yeah, I can't figure out how to schedule a coaching call. Great. We popped it right at the top of the community platform so that it was accessible for them. And I really just think like, if we had coaching calls and we had workshops, but no one was using them or they weren't serving or supporting people, then I'm not doing my job. Like it's not actually effective. What is the point? And so that's how I feel with so many things on a systems level. It's like, what are we doing here? What is the actual point? And if we can't gather data and then have systems that are informed by data, what are we doing? I get real fired up.
01:01:24 Rachel
Well, I think something that stuck out to me from like the parent perspective, from like the working mom perspective is that I think culturally and federally we look at this access to childcare and access to high quality childcare as like an isolated issue. And really it's connected to everything else. It's connected to our workforce, our economy. And on the high quality side of this, we know now we have so much research about how emotional development in the early years has far -reaching impact into adulthood and like sometimes in
01:01:59 Alyssa
So many ways health outcomes mental health
01:02:02 Rachel
Literally everything. Sometimes I like get I'll like see something you know let's use addiction as an example like I have family members who like experienced addiction before and sometimes I'm like oh my gosh like what can I do to move the needle and then I'm Oh, I'm already doing it. Like my work in early childhood is required to move the needle because to deal with addiction, we have to like go upstream to mental health. Right. So it's like every time I'm like, oh, my gosh, what can I do to move the needle on this? I'm like, wait,
01:02:35 Alyssa
Show up at work. That's what I do.
01:02:38 Rachel
But actually, like I and I think like that's where this gets lost. People are like, OK, yeah, you need child care. or like figure out a babysitter, ask your aunt to do it. You know, like that whole situation, it's like, whoa, back up. This is so much bigger.
01:02:54 Alyssa
High quality childcare.
01:02:55 Rachel
And reliable childcare and the ability to.
01:02:58 Alyssa
Affordable, accessible, high quality childcare.
01:03:03 Rachel
Correct.
01:03:03 Alyssa
Yeah, and that's where like, I even think, like for instance, here in Vermont, there is a like, I'm gonna put database loosely here, but there's a spot where you could go into this website and look up if there are child care programs near you. The website itself is so outdated, it feels like you showed up at the DMV. You know that feeling at the DMV where everything just kind of feels cold? And I have a master's degree and work in this field, and I had a hard time navigating the There's like so many boxes you can't check or you, whatever, it's so many things that could be improved. And I think about like, how does that then play into people finding childcare, right? Where we're like, okay, as a state check, we have a database of them. Okay. It's not user friendly.
01:04:00 Rachel
Also, where do I find the database? Because that's not common knowledge. So as a parent, like, how do I find out that that exists?
01:04:06 Alyssa
Yep.
01:04:06 Rachel
And then how do I use it?
01:04:10 Alyssa
And then is it accurate? Is it up to date? Does it have the information I need? Like all those things. And so what happens here is people go to our local Facebook group and they're like, Hey, looking for child care in this area for an infant or whatever. And childcare providers are in a Facebook group saying like, Oh, I have an opening here. I have whatever. So like, if you don't have Facebook, good luck.
01:04:33 Rachel
Also, as if childcare providers have the spare time to be trolling Facebook to, you know what I mean? Like that shouldn't be part of their job.
01:04:39 Alyssa
Correct. And so it's like one thing like that, that's like, that's just one piece, right? A childcare finder. And that's something like BridgeCare does, where they have a childcare finder, where they have basically a database on the back end of all the criteria you're going to need so that you can pop in and here's what I'm looking for. Here's my zip code and it's going to pull up everybody. And then programs also have the ability to update if have openings in different age groups and stuff. So if they kept that up to date, then you would even be able to see like, oh, not only are these places in my area, but also these places in my area have openings for the age range I'm looking for. Right, like things like that where it's like, that is crucial for families. Or we have teachers who are saying like, oh, I didn't know that I could have tuition paid for for early childhood here in the state of Vermont or things. It's like, yeah, we want to recruit people in. Right now, there isn't a one -stop shop, one place that you go if you're a teacher, you're a director, you're a provider, you want to become somebody in the field, or you're a family that you're like, here's where I go for information. It's like, okay, wait, do I go to this organization or this organization? Or was that grant from here or from there. Yeah. And so it just makes it so that things aren't done efficiently, which means they don't actually get implemented. It's like you need that hub and that one stop shop. But it also requires doing something new. And I think there is a lot of fear of innovation, where people like we, we do this, like we are that you can pick up a phone and call our organization run by the state, and we're going to let you know what you need for child care. It's like, I'm never picking up the phone as a parent and calling. I'm scrolling this while I am on the toilet, or I just put my kids down for bed. You know what I have in the middle of the day? Spare time to call this organization. That's not happening for me. And I just feel like it's one of those things where you're right, it's so connected to everything, to the economy, to the workforce, to mental health, to jail and prison time and the amount that we pay for that, to the amount that we pour into support services for kids kindergarten through 12th grade and then beyond. It's connected to everything and the systems systems are so outdated that we can't provide the access and high -quality components in a way that people can actually implement. Enter BridgeCare.
01:07:28 Rachel
Yeah. I mean, it's rad what they're doing. And it's still like, something that she said that stuck out to me was like, as like, for example, as like funding opportunities come in or whatever, she mentions that like, sometimes that makes things even more complicated because it's so all over the place and like different organizations and there's no streamlining. So it's like the funding is so crucial, but the logistics of getting it or getting it out to schools is like, it almost defeats the purpose. Like it's just nobody has time. People don't have time.
01:08:04 Alyssa
People don't have time. And then it becomes like, oh, you can get a $10 ,000 grant here or 5 ,000 here, a few 200 here, and it ends up putting Band -Aids on bullet holes, and it's one -time funding versus, yeah, we're going to take this chunk of funding and really overhaul systems. The other thing that really gets involved here is that there's so much politics, right? There's so much politics in it of who gets the funding? Are these organizations even talking to each other? There are definitely things that we have, and not just here in the state of Vermont, in every state and in spaces where we've continued to invest in programs and things that are not working anymore because there's politics involved in it. And it's just like at the end of the day, who are you serving? And why are you so afraid? It doesn't make sense. Aren't we all here for the tiny humans? Isn't that what brought us here? Isn't that what we're supposed to be doing year. We were just talking about this with shared resources where somebody had taken a post of ours and basically made the exact same post on their Instagram and shared it without any credit or acknowledgement to us. And literally it was verbatim. And I was like, listen, it really, really, really stinks to work hard on something and put it out there and not get credit for it. And I want to let y 'all know, I'm not here for the business of credit, like if more people see that information and that gets to serve more kids or more families or more teachers, we're doing our job. The amount of ego that exists in these spaces that prevents innovation and systems innovation is very hard for me to just like be around.
01:10:06 Rachel
Well, it's so frustrating. It's so unnecessary.
01:10:10 Alyssa
It's a disservice to children. Those are my thoughts, I'm fired up. Yeah, everybody. And ultimately children, right? Like, because it's a disservice to families, to teachers, to whatever, ultimately kids are the ones who pay. And then you know what we do? We end up paying for those children monetarily. Yep. So that's how I feel about this episode. You wanted my thoughts, there they are.
01:10:39 Rachel
Thanks BridgeCare because.
01:10:42 Alyssa
Thanks BridgeCare because I really love what you're doing and my challenge here is like states, what are we doing?
01:10:51 Rachel
Yeah, and why is it not a priority?
01:10:54 Alyssa
Or why do we keep putting band -aids on bullet holes and using like software programs that are outdated or that aren't designed for child care that we're trying to like pigeonhole into this space and stuff. It's yeah, it's frustrating because it feels like there is a solution.
01:11:13 Rachel
It makes me think of your go -to phrase when you were pregnant with Sage, do you remember it?
01:11:20 Alyssa
No, but tell me.
01:11:21 Rachel
Don't be dumb.
01:11:23 Alyssa
Just don't be dumb. Oh my God, that was it. That is how I feel when I'm pregnant. Everyone around me, I'm like, don't be dumb. I just have way less capacity for when it feels like we are doing things like bringing our ego to things that don't belong there and whatever.
01:11:38 Rachel
Yeah, or like being inefficient.
01:11:40 Alyssa
Oh, I hate inefficiency. Hate it. Hate it.
01:11:46 Rachel
I know.
01:11:47 Alyssa
Because it means we get less done.
01:11:49 Rachel
I know.
01:11:51 Alyssa
And I love productivity.
01:11:53 Rachel
I do too, and I love efficiency.
01:11:56 Alyssa
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Ugh. Well, I hope that folks tuning in to this can see the value of BridgeCare and programs like BridgeCare that are working to solve for these things, these challenges that are solvable and the impact that we can have when we do solve for these things.
01:12:21 Alyssa
Thanks for tuning in to Voices of Your Village. Check out the transcript at voicesofyourvillage.com. Did you know that we have a special community over on Instagram hanging out every day with more free content? Come join us at @seed.and.sew S -E -W. Take a screenshot of you tuning in, share it on the ‘Gram and tag @seed.and.sew to let me know your key takeaway. If you're digging this podcast, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. We love collaborating with you to raise emotionally intelligent humans.
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