Prof. Ha Wins U.S. DHHS Grant to Support Research That Will Improve Child Care Access in Mass.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded BU School of Social Work Professor Yoonsook Ha a $150,000 grant that will improve access to child care in Massachusetts through her research on child care subsidies. “The supply of high quality, affordable child care has been a critical issue not only in Massachusetts but in the United States in general,” says Prof. Ha. “Improving child care subsidy payment policies at the state government level will improve access for families across the socio-economic scale.”
Over the next 18 months, Prof. Ha will collaborate with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to evaluate the state’s subsidy payment rate and family copayment policies in an effort to expand access to high quality, affordable child care. As a principal investigator of the project, Dr. Ha will:
- Review child care subsidy payment policies
- Analyze the state’s administrative data
- Design an evaluation study
The resulting study will provide evidence on ways that child care subsidy payment policies affect child care supply in the state. “This funded project provides an opportunity for multiple states to collaborate on developing new, more effective measures for supplying child care,” says Prof. Ha.