Capita In Conversation

Capita In Conversation with Abby Jitendra

Episode Summary

In this Capita in Conversation episode, Senior Fellow Elliot Haspel talks to Abby Jitendra from the UK’s Joseph Rowntree Foundation about financialization threats, particularly from private equity firms, facing both the UK and US child care systems. They discuss Jitendra’s proposal for a new social licensing model that treats child care more as a public good and aims to improve quality and supply by linking high standards with public money, ensuring government investments benefit families equitably and effectively.

Episode Notes

In this Capita in Conversation episode, Senior Fellow Elliot Haspel talks to Abby Jitendra from the UK’s Joseph Rowntree Foundation about financialization threats, particularly from private equity firms, facing both the UK and US child care systems. They discuss Jitendra’s proposal for a new social licensing model that treats child care more as a public good and aims to improve quality and supply by linking high standards with public money, ensuring government investments benefit families equitably and effectively.

Elliot Haspel

Elliot--Senior Fellow at Capita--is a child & family policy expert and commentator. He specializes in early childhood & education issues and the intersection between early childhood development and climate change. He most recently served as the Senior Program Officer for Early Childhood Education at the Robins Foundation.

Among other accomplishments, Elliot conceived of and helped raise over $7 million for the Child Care NEXT philanthropic initiative, and helped spearhead the launch of the 100-member strong Virginia Funders Network.

Abby Jitendra

Abby is a Principal Policy Adviser at JRF and is working on developing a new programme of work on care, family and relationships. Her areas of expertise include energy policy and regulation, destitution, household debt and social security. Abby previously worked at Citizens Advice, leading a team of policy researchers and campaigners to stand up for consumers as energy companies failed and costs increased. Before that, she had oversight of policy and research at anti-poverty charity the Trussell Trust. She is a trustee of Quaker Social Action.