Who We Are & What We Do
The National Law Enforcement Foundation (NLEF) directly delivers custom childcare and early childhood education on behalf of law enforcement.
NLEF works at all levels of public grants and private philanthropy to cut through the childcare funding bureaucracy. We educate law enforcement leaders, elected officials, and philanthropists to push to change the allocation of funds to help address the national recruiting and retention crisis impacting every city and state in the country.
NLEF is the implementor responsible for funding, building, managing, licensing, and operating each center.
Law enforcement in America is in crisis.
Law enforcement agencies nationwide face a vicious cycle of retirements, resignations, and fewer people entering the field. Women are not promoting and police morale is lower than ever. A recent survey of a major metropolitan police department showed 59% of officers reported leaving or missing work because of childcare concerns. One in five officers were considering leaving their jobs altogether because of childcare stresses.
Our Plan and What We Need
Law enforcement needs a trusted group to represent them and educate our elected leaders that there is a model to help achieve their goals of reversing the recruiting and retaining crisis every agency faces.
We are not simply providing childcare or tax credits. We are overhauling the accessibility with round-the-clock care, the affordability by giving half of market-rate tuition, and the lack of childcare teachers by increasing their pay.
We've designed this model with the mission to make the everyday life of a cop more habitable and the profession attractive to recruits, especially women. While many critical workforces need customized childcare, none impact our communities quality of life as law enforcement does.
Ideally, we fund our mission with private philanthropic dollars and avoid public funding. Still, public safety is the government's responsibility, and there are ways to use public dollars to improve public safety innovatively.
Our team is working on outreach for FY2025 and live our mission daily to help as many agencies as possible navigate tangible solutions to improve their department. Agencies have to be stakeholders, not implementers.
Our Solution and Approach
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Create and operate a childcare facility exclusively for law enforcement with extended hours that supports shift work. Provide childcare and education coverage for 17 hours per day, 7 days a week, including holidays, with an emergency call-out option for officers on call.
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Provide 50% discount off market-rate of tuition. Tackle the teacher shortage by increasing pay by 20%.
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Organize a coalition of philanthropic, corporate, and public leaders aligned to provide a community-based, fiscally responsible approach to improve policing and support law enforcement.
We implement lessons learned.
Archaic service of childcare
Changing the archaic service of childcare is revolutionary. Altering traditional operating hours and tuition is the cornerstone of our foundation. The accessibility and affordability components we developed are the mainstay to reform policing.
Licensed childcare facility
Law enforcement agencies and associations are understaffed and unable to dedicate full-time personnel to construct and operate a licensed facility to provide child care for cops. Our men and women in law enforcement do a phenomenal job serving and protecting our communities. However, constructing, coordinating, and implementing a center providing child care for police is not in their repertoire, nor should it be.
Customized childcare facilities
The government's traditional avenues to supplement and support childcare services do not apply to law enforcement. Most law enforcement does not qualify for vouchers, and tax credits do not relieve the day-to-day financial burden or accessibility. Customized childcare facilities that complement daily life are vital to addressing the barrier that keeps law enforcement from being an attractive career.
Recruitment unique demands
Law enforcement and benefactors need a trusted group to understand the unique demands to recruit and retain the best to serve our communities. We built our board around experienced law enforcement and philanthropic advisors to ensure balance and accountability. We need child care for police to recruit the best and brightest.
Estimated Cost
National Law Enforcement Foundation is the implementer and conduit responsible for funding, building, managing, licensing, and operating each center.
We provide legal, sign liability insurance, lease, and provider management agreements. We directly deliver the services at the direction of the agency and association without them being responsible.
NLEF's public/private partnership model partners with a nationally licensed childcare provider who will also invest in the child care center for police.
Each center has an average operating cost of $1.5 million per year. Project budgets are built for at least three years plus construction costs to measure the effectiveness and provide consistency for families.
YOU can help!
Childcare for law enforcement doesn't exist. NLEF is working to change that by educating law enforcement leaders, elected officials, and philanthropists to push to change the allocation of funds to help address the national recruiting and retention crisis impacting every city and state in the country.
You can help NLEF provide this critical need by donating to our cause.