Home-Based Child Care Emergency Fund
Members of Home Grown have committed $1.2M to establish a Home-Based Child Care Emergency Fund.
As our nation faces the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of home-based child care (HBCC) has never been more evident and these caregivers and providers have never been more indispensable. In April 2020, Home Grown and its members created the HBCC Emergency Fund to catalyze the development of regional funds that provide direct financial support to in-home child care providers across the nation.
Regional Emergency Funds
Once a family child care provider is licensed, they are left out of the business world without any support. We need to have a coaching or mentoring system that guides and directs providers to be successful.
Networks can provide retirement plans and business classes for family child care (FCC) owners and prospective owners. I would also love some resources about how to advocate for regulation changes at the local level to ensure that providers are represented.
Things we need from networks that support HBCC are resources we can offer our families, such as free screenings for vision, hearing, dental, etc. We also need resources that can be provided to us as providers that give us medical, dental, mental health services for free or reduced rates.
“We are so grateful to Home Grown for this incredible investment in home-based child care through the Home Grown Child Care Emergency Fund – especially during this unprecedented health and economic crisis.”
“Families increasingly rely on relatives and extended family as a child care solution, particularly during the pandemic disruption. Child Care Aware of Washington’s Play & Learn groups provide unique community resource connections and our facilitators deliver multiple family services and referrals to caregivers.”
“If parents cannot find safe, affordable, quality childcare, they cannot return to work. In Greenville County alone there are nearly 75,000 school-age students, and 36,000 preschoolers and infants. Without immediate action to make sure current providers have the resources to stay open and new providers can open quickly, many parents will find their childcare options severely limited.”
Emergency Fund Data Snapshot
- Nearly 1,800 home-based caregivers and providers
- Serving 8,100 children and families
- In 12 states
Funded programs will reach Family Child Care (FCC) providers, Family Friend Neighbor (FFN) providers, underserved communities including undocumented providers, and intermediaries providings surrounding supports.
Final Data from Home Grown Emergency Fund Communities
Home Grown partnered with thirteen regional organizations that designed and administered local emergency funds. These organizations secured an additional $2.7 million in matching funds for HBCC providers from 17 local funders. We are grateful for their partnership and commitment to home-based child care. We invite you to review the final data from our emergency fund.