Lynn Graves

How did you get involved with First Children’s Finance?
I’ve been involved with child care and early childhood development since 2001 when I started working with United Way of Central Iowa – Women’s Leadership Initiative. Our efforts were to get women in our community to give new dollars to help with early care and education. As I grew in that and as I tried to figure out how to help those most in need in our community, I also started to look at what the state was doing. I’m a big proponent of not duplicating efforts. I was working with the Department of Management First Years First, a program that was about making sure we have the quality expectations for centers and homes. Somewhere along the way, Jerry got my name. When he talked to me about First Children’s Finance, I was quite intrigued. Part of what I tried to do was to make sure people understood that this wasn’t only about caring for children, but also making sure we had a healthy community, building a workforce and adding value to economic development. Early care and education is an industry. We need to look at it as an industry – what it costs, what its putting back into the economy of the state. If we could just have one day when child care was shut down, that what it would do to businesses. Child care requires a long-term investment, and you don’t see the results for quite a few years. I want to continue to look at the business side of child care. I went on the board a year ago.

Why is First Children’s important? Why do you spend precious time working with First Children’s?
I have the passion to make sure there is quality education for children 0-5 who don’t have a voice for themselves. I want to make sure they have the education they need to have the opportunity that’s out there for them. 

What’s your vision for First Children’s?
I want First Children’s Finance to really be able to go into communities and help them understand there is a business side of early care and education. I would love to get a study done that says this is how much this industry costs and this is how much this industry is putting back into the economy. That would help everyone. Business owners, legislators, employees and every individual need to see child care as an industry. It’s not just babysitting because parents work. They need to get to the care centers or the in-home and teach people about the business of child care. They need to learn what to do to maintain the business. How do I go to the next level? How do I grow the business? How do I improve my results? We can show the results from that teaching, so people can see that it’s a good investment.

What do you like to do when you aren’t working on behalf of First Children’s?
I love spending time with my eight-month old grandson. I keep him on Fridays; I work Monday through Thursday. It’s amazing to watch how he learns and watch it all over again. Family is so incredibly important. I’m one of 12 children, so I have lots of nieces and nephews. I love to volunteer. I’m on the boards of three nonprofits. I also love to knit and read. Those are my quiet activities.

What else would you like our readers to know about you and First Children’s?
First Children’s Finance has a great start, and this is something that’s going to continue to move. And we’ve seen it move in other states as well as Iowa. You really need to learn more about First Children’s and get on the band wagon.