Policy Analyst, Childcare Policy, Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator (VPA)

About the role

The Childcare Policy Analyst is part of the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator (VPA) in the Law School at Vanderbilt University. Operating within the Public Options and Governance workstream, this role is responsible for developing and implementing VPA’s childcare and early childhood policy research agenda and advocacy portfolio. The policy analyst will spend a significant portion of their time conducting policy research, producing communications and publications, and supporting programmatic activities that advance VPA’s priorities on childcare access, affordability, quality, and workforce development within a broader public option framework. This position reports to the Director of Public Options and Governance.

The Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator (VPA) focuses on a small number of cutting-edge topics in political economy and regulation. We bring research, education, and policy proposals in these areas from infancy to maturity and periphery to centrality. We cultivate, grow, and spread research, education, and policy ideas—and at a pace that aligns with the urgency of today’s challenges. We are currently in the midst of a political economy revolution. From antitrust to trade, swift changes are taking place that are reshaping how policymakers and the general public think about economic policy. These changes create an opportunity to advance new paradigms, research, and policy ideas. We are action focused. Each project we undertake seeks to accelerate developments in education, research, policy, and public debate.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development and implementation of the childcare policy agenda and research portfolio.
• Evaluate pressing challenges in childcare and early childhood policy, working closely with the Director of Public Options and Governance, the faculty director, and the executive director to develop and implement a comprehensive childcare policy agenda.
• Lead research on the regulation and public provision of childcare across relevant actors—including childcare providers, early childhood workforce, subsidy administrators, and platform intermediaries—with a focus on structural and market-shaping governance, including public options for universal childcare, utility-style approaches to essential childcare infrastructure, nondiscrimination and fair access rules, and affordability and quality standards.
• Develop policy proposals to improve childcare governance, from reform of federal subsidy programs (including the Child Care and Development Fund and Head Start) and state licensing frameworks to consumer protections for families, wage and labor standards for childcare workers, and strategies to address childcare deserts and market failures in under-served communities.
• Perform essential administrative and coordination functions related to the childcare policy portfolio, exercising independent judgment and discretion as appropriate.