UROP Project

Modes of Nonprofit Co-production and Public Service Effectiveness: Florida's Early Child Care Networks

Co-production, Nonprofit–government relations, Public service delivery, Early childhood education, Governance Networks

Research Mentor: Yuseon Keum,
Department, College, Affiliation: Public Administration, Social Sciences and Public Policy
Contact Email: yk23f@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors.
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: No, the project is remote
Remote or In-person: Fully Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5, During business hours
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:

• Day: Friday, September 4
  Start Time: 1:30
  End Time: 3:30
  Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/5259901549?pwd=tbsSauv4kvnMYohX57PaVUrywj5RkU.1

Project Description

This project examines how the mode of nonprofit co-production affects community-level public service effectiveness. To answer that question, we investigate child care services and kindergarten readiness across Florida counties.

Every year the state of Florida asks whether its youngest students are ready for kindergarten. The answer varies widely across counties, and one reason may be how local nonprofits and government work together to provide child care.

In some counties, nonprofit child care providers sit on the board of their regional Early Learning Coalition and help shape policy and funding decisions. In others, nonprofits deliver services under contract but have no voice in designing the system. Some operate entirely outside the public system. This project asks whether those different relationships actually matter for public service outcomes.

To find out, we are building an original dataset covering Florida counties that combines state licensing records, Early Learning Coalition contracts and board rosters obtained through public records requests, IRS nonprofit filings, kindergarten readiness scores, and Census demographics.

The work is practical and community-focused. We look at how child care actually gets delivered, from large metro areas to rural counties. The findings are meant to be useful to the coalitions themselves: if placing nonprofits closer to the center of decision-making improves outcomes, that is something coalitions can act on.

This project is still taking shape. The questions, measures, and outcomes are open to revision. Students who develop an interest in a particular county, policy angle, or method are encouraged to pursue it, and there is room to develop your own related question.


Research Tasks: - Filing and tracking public records requests with Florida's Early Learning Coalitions
- Compiling and cleaning provider rosters, board membership lists, and contracts
- Matching nonprofit organizations across databases by name and address
- Basic descriptive analysis and data visualization
- Reviewing literature on co-production and child care governance


Skills that research assistant(s) may need: - Careful, detailed work with records and spreadsheets (required)
- Reliable communication and follow through (required)
- Familiarity with Excel or Google Sheets (recommended)
- Interest in nonprofits, public management, or social services (recommended)