Rachel Schumacher is an independent early childhood policy consultant, and the former Director of the Office of Child Care in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 2014-2017. She led the development of federal regulations to implement the bipartisan reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). As a consultant, Rachel advises a range of clients and is the project manager for the Raising Child Care Fund, a project of the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative. The Fund provides grants to support grassroots organizing for a more equitable child care system. Previously, Rachel was the first director of the Pritzker Children’s Initiative at the JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation. Prior to federal service, Rachel spent over a decade at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), where she led policy research and provided technical assistance to policymakers on a range of topics including: infant and toddler child care and Early Head Start policies, state early childhood systems and standards, state prekindergarten programs, and federal law and regulation for the CCDBG and Head Start/Early Head Start. Rachel attended Brown University and the University of Chicago Irving Harris School of Public Policy. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and two sons.
