Peer Mentor Project
            The Peer Mentor program of Minnesota Child Care Providers Together/AFSCME, is funded by grants and “in kind” contributions.  The concept grew out of our search for a “model” for the organization of child care providers we were creating.   As everyone at this conference knows, there is no “ready-made” model for our organizations to emulate.  We needed (and still need) to create a mission and structure that overcomes the isolation of child care providers and enables us to engage in collective action to achieve some measure of economic justice for ourselves.   We place a high value on collective action because without collective action we would be duplicating association-like organization which provides services but cannot provide the path to true empowerment that democratic collective action creates.
            In analyzing our situation several factors stood out.  First, our members are independent business people and wish to stay that way.  There is very little interest in becoming an employee of any government entity.  Second, the services provided by our members are undervalued and underappreciated. If the centers are child care department stores then individual providers are the “boutiques” where parents may find individualized, attentive, personalize and high quality care for their children.  Child care, which in many ways, and to many families, is preferable to what the centers can offer.  However, this advantage is not widely recognized and frequently we are thought of as a less expensive alternative to a center.  Thirdly, we need to improve our economic condition and security.  But we are regulated in such a way as to limit our incomes and economic security. 
            In Minnesota the child care industry is fragmented.  There are many providers, centers, and a large number of smaller associations loosely partnered with handfuls of statewide associations.  The system essentially came into existence in the 1970’s and the social workers who acted as teacher/trainer/mentors to the providers largely fell victim to the budget cuts of the 1990’s.  The primary relationship with government is now primarily regulatory.  
            We considered making the regulatory relationship with government (dealing with licensing) our primary project but it seemed to lead to the wrong end.  We need to improve the perception of child care.  As independent business people we sell services not labor.  Our problem is that because of regulation there are constraints on what we can gross from selling our services.  Once we began to think in terms of selling services we hit upon the idea we are pursuing.  We realized we collectively possessed something valuable and could build a program based upon that collective possession.  What we have as a group that is valuable is the relationship with the parents whose children we care for.  We have direct, often daily contact with thousands upon thousands of families from all walks of life.
It struck us we could market that relationship to public health, social service, and education organizations and non-profits.  We could create a network among the child care providers to educate other providers on the various services so they in turn could educate their clients.  We could also distribute and collect information on behalf of the various agencies.  In making this our core activity we would accomplish a number of things:
            A.  We are creating a one-to-one network of and for providers.
            B.  We are significantly raising our visibility in the community.
            C.  We can use the network to do legislative mobilization of providers and parents around child welfare issues.
            D.  Our collaboration with various agencies creates valuable coalitions.
            E.  Our work improves the business model of the providers.  They are now a source of     information for their clients.
            F.  Most importantly this project is a collective activity that helps diminish the isolation of   providers.
            We have secured a grant in combination with “like-kind” contributions, and have begun the work of building the structure.  We pay stipends to child care providers to function as “Peer Mentors.”  Since word of our grant has gotten out we have been contacted by a number of non-profits asking if they could partner with us.  We are currently interviewing and selecting non-profit and government agencies to partner with for the next year.  We are working to reinvent the role of teacher/trainer/mentor.  However, our goal is to instill that role in the providers themselves.
            In terms of models, we believe what we are creating is much like a publicly funded guild which benefits the members as well as children, families and the community as a whole.  We are working to raise the visibility of family child care and in so doing create allies who will help us in our struggle for economic justice.  We want family child care to be seen as the “gold standard” of child care in the community.
            If you have any questions please feel free to contact either Lisa Thompson or Dan Fitzsimmons.