While it is difficult to find agreement on many of our nation’s priorities, one thing is for sure – There is unprecedented agreement that child care is a critical issue in the United States today. In fact, a recent poll found that 97 percent of Democrats, 89 percent of Independents, and 87 percent of Republicans, say they favor government investments to make early education and child care more affordable.

Would you take this deal? Buy one year of college, get three more for no additional cost. A no-brainer, right? That’s similar to what happens when society invests in early childhood programs such as high quality child care, Head Start, Early Head Start, and home visiting programs. For every dollar spent, between two and four dollars are returned to the economy in various ways.

So says a new report released by the RAND Corporation, which studied the outcomes from 115 early education programs. Investing Early follows up on RAND’s 2005 review of early childhood programs. The report looks at a larger and more diverse set of early childhood interventions, including health-focused programs, community-based interventions, and programs that take a “two-generation approach” by working with children and their parents. Investing Early looks at the connections between early childhood programs and a broad set of individual and societal outcomes. It highlights health outcomes specifically and also evaluates the financial costs and benefits of investing in early childhood programs.

Kathy, a married mother of three, struggled with finding a child care facility that could accept and accommodate her children’s unique needs, as well as her and her husband’s demanding work schedules. With the help of child care, she and her husband were no longer forced to alternate days off and were able to return to working regular schedules.

Have you ever heard that indoor air is often way more polluted than the outdoor air, and wondered whether that was actually true? It is, because in enclosed spaces the chemicals used in certain paints, varnishes, cleaners—and other pollutants including dirt, dust, dander—keep recirculating. So imagine what children in child care settings may be exposed to when they’re crawling around, sitting “criss-cross applesauce,” or breathing in the chemicals routinely used to clean-up after snack time.