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Greenville First Steps

COVID-19 Impact

A report by the Institute for Child Success on the initial economic impact of COVID-19 on South Carolina’s child care sector found that nearly half (48%) of centers are closed across the state. The same study also found that one-third of centers cannot financially weather a closure of any length of time and another third cannot quantify how long they would be able to handle a closure.

Emergency Fund

Greenville First Steps launched an emergency fund to support home-based child care providers in South Carolina. The fund provides one-time grants of up to $1,900 to 150 providers in rural and urban areas. The funding covers approximately two weeks of expenses and can be used to pay for necessities like rent, electricity, and food.

Home Grown is a national collaborative of funders committed to improving the quality of and access to home-based child care with a mission to increase access to and the quality of home-based child care. 

Home Grown reading a book

Responding to Crisis: Cash Aid in Times of Disaster

Emergency funding is deeply ingrained in the work of Home Grown. Home Grown has developed a national team of organizations and partners to design and set up of the Home Grown Home-Based Child Care Emergency Fund for Severe Weather & National Disaster Response.
Colorful cubes, paints, pencils, blocks, modeling clay on orange background. Interesting math, games for preschool for kids. Education, back to school concept

Student Loan Debt is a Critical Factor in the Early Educator Compensation Crisis 

Home-based providers earn the lowest wages in the child care system, with many making just $10,000 per year, while continuing to serve underserved families. Despite their essential role, they are often left out of policy discussions and loan forgiveness programs, contributing to ongoing financial strain. This new fact sheet sheds light on the earning challenges for family child care providers.
Home Grown FFN1

Home-based Child Care Providers Share Reflections on Their Hispanic Heritage

In the United States, immigrant stories can start differently but eventually resemble each other. Leticia Barcenas and Claudia Valentín live in diagonally opposite corners of the country—Portland, Oregon, and New Orleans, Louisiana, respectively—they come from different countries—Mexico and Honduras—and began their American Dream with different plans—Leticia wanted to work to make money and support her family; Claudia looked for ways to educate young people in the diaspora—but they eventually discovered that their destiny was inevitably tied to the success of child care in their communities.