Home-Based Child Care (HBCC) Emergency Fund for Severe Weather & National Disaster Response
About the Fund
Home-based child care providers are the backbone of their community in good times and bad. During a crisis, they are often an afterthought or excluded entirely in emergency response and aid. We know that philanthropy can act quickly to address that gap and work to encourage public response to focus on home-based providers. The Home-Based Child Care Emergency Fund for Severe Weather & National Disaster Response seeks to address immediate needs among home-based child care providers impacted by national disasters and severe weather events. With input from existing grantees and partners on the ground, we designed an emergency fund to respond to providers’ needs as they recover from the effects of severe weather events and natural disasters.
The HBCC Emergency Fund for Severe Weather & Natural Disaster Response seeks to:
- Get immediate cash assistance to home-based child care providers and caregivers impacted by national disasters and severe weather events.
- Meet immediate health, safety and personal needs for child care providers.
- Ensure providers can address immediate threats to continued operations.
- Complement, not duplicate or confuse, existing relief efforts.
- Ensure funds support personal expenses and damage to homes and contents of homes (that will not be reimbursed by public assistance or insurance).
- Lift learning and insight to support short- and long-term policy efforts.
How It Works
The HBCC Emergency Fund for Severe Weather & National Disaster Response seeks to get cash aid to diverse home-based child care providers who are impacted by events like Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton. The Fund has been designed with input from local providers and partners to:
Get funding to providers and caregivers quickly through a fast and easy application process.
Connect providers to the Fund via trusted partners that they are already in relationship with.
Where We Are Currently Working
Supporting providers in counties affected by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton.
We are currently accepting emergency fund request applications from network partners.
To access the application network partners can contact us via email at emergencyfund@homegrownchildcare.org.
Resources for Severe Weather and Disaster Recovery
- Disaster unemployment assistance:
- Assistance: North Carolina Department of Commerce
- Assistance: Florida Commerce
- FEMA:
- Quick Links and Resources for response to Hurricane Helene: North Carolina
- Quick Links and Resources for response to Hurricane Helene: Florida
- Quick Links and Resources for response to Hurricane Milton: Florida
- Save the Children:
- Guide to Individual vs. Public Assistance
- How to help children cope with disasters (English)
- Cómo ayudar a los niños a manejar las crisis (Español)