Leading from Home: Investing in HBCC Provider Leaders
Seeking Provider Leaders of Networks
Home Grown is seeking home-based providers and caregivers to participate in our Leading from Home initiative. If you are a home-based child care provider or caregiver who leads a network of providers and parents and are passionate about creating change in the child care sector, we invite you to learn more about this opportunity. We want to hear from both licensed and regulated Family Child Care (FCC) providers and license-exempt Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) caregivers.
Leaders of networks organize and facilitate meetings with peer providers within the child care sector to identify obstacles and solutions to improve outcomes for providers and families. A network is defined as a group of individuals who recognize they are members of the network and work together to achieve specific goals.
- Are You a Provider Leader of a Network?
- The Challenge
- Program Overview
- Eligibility Criteria
- Featured Providers
- FAQs
Are You a Provider Leader of a Network?
Please consider these questions as you determine if this is a good fit for you. If you can answer yes to most or all of these questions, we encourage you to apply.
Provider/Caregiver:
- I regularly care for one or more children (who are not my own) in my home.
- I am an auntie, grandma, neighbor caring for a child, for even a few hours a day.
- I currently run a licensed family child care business from my home.
- I currently run a license-exempt family child care business from my home.
- I am an early childhood educator in a home setting.
- None of these.
Network:
- Network has a name
- Network has a clear purpose and goals
- Network has been established for at least one year
- Network has member who know that they are a part of this group
- Network meets regularly and most members participate in these meetings
- Network has communication tools and approaches to share information with members
- Network seeks to improve the child care system on behalf of its members
- I regularly convene a network or community of fellow providers/caregivers seeking change.
- I engage my members regularly via chats, calls, video calls, and other methods
- I collect input from members to guide network activities
- I seek to understand and improve the child care system.
- I work to gather resources for my network and ensure its sustainability
- I am committed to advocacy and improving policy that affects providers/caregivers and their families
- I am a changemaker and committed to creating positive change with fellow providers/caregivers and parents.
The Challenge
Home-based child care is often under-resourced, under-appreciated, and even invisible. Current systems do not include the voices of providers/caregivers and parents in making key decisions for this sector. The Leading from Home initiative seeks to invest in and strengthen networks of providers to inform policy decisions and actions. We seek to strengthen and support provider-led networks and their goals to influence policy and systems.
Leaders participating in Leading from Home will work in collaboration with their networks to advance goals such as:
- My network will connect with my local and state representatives to improve their support of home-based providers.
- My network seeks to ensure community resources to better meet the needs of home-based providers.
- My network wants family, friend and neighbor caregivers to be included in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) in my state.
- My network wants family, friend and neighbor caregivers to be able to access child care subsidies or vouchers in my state.
- My network wants to remove zoning barriers to opening new programs.
- My network seeks to expand the stakeholders we engage with and influence.
- My network wants our state to use a cost of care model to set (and increase) child care subsidy rates for home-based providers.
- We want equal language access for materials and resources for home-based providers and families (e.g., I want the language that I speak to be included in materials and resources for home-based providers and families).
The Leading from Home initiative exists to support home-based providers/caregivers networks as they work to make positive change.
Program Overview
Home Grown is creating a leadership community of providers/caregivers leading networks across the country. These provider-led network leaders will engage in four primary activities:
Primary activities
- Convene meetings and engage local providers/caregivers and parents to identify their needs and articulate their goals
- Identify specific supports each community needs to advance their goals
- Train and prepare participants to engage in policy actions
- Build a membership list to expand the provider/caregiver network
Home Grown will provide
- Paid planning period to assess this opportunity
- Monthly stipends for provider/caregiver leaders (can be dedicated to one leader or split among a small leader group)
- Mentorship from experienced provider leaders and advocates
- Free technical assistance and access to experts on policy, strategic communications, and engagement supports
- Monthly convenings for the community of provider leaders
- Grant funding to strengthen your network
Eligibility Criteria
Individuals are encouraged to apply. 501(c)(3) status is not required.
Priority will go to network leaders who meet the criteria below and also:
- Have clear goals for their provider/caregiver network, particularly in the realms of policy, strategic communications, and engagement.
- Network leaders in the following states: Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Iowa, Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, North Dakota and Ohio (2026 Cohort 4).
Criteria: We are looking for applicants who:
- Are experienced home-based child providers or caregivers for whom this is your primary job. Both licensed Family Child Care providers and license-exempt or unregulated Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) providers and caregivers are eligible.
- Lead or co-lead a network of home-based child care providers or caregivers.
- Commit to:
- Convening your provider/caregiver network monthly or more frequently. This may take place in-person or virtually and follow established protocols.
- Growing your network and encouraging additional home-based child care providers or caregivers to join your meetings and efforts.
- Identifying your community’s needs and desired supports to help you to take action.
- Collaborating with technical assistance partners around the needs identified by your community to develop strategies for change.
- Engaging your network in opportunities identified by peer communities. This might include events, surveys, discussions, and other engagement opportunities.
- Collaborating with Home Grown, including:
- Sharing of information about members (with their consent)
- Advising on Home Grown initiatives
- Participating in a national Community of Practice of provider/caregiver leaders to be convened by Home Grown and its partners
Featured Providers
Learn More and Application Support
Home Grown is here to answer your questions and support your application. Connect with us via:
Office hours
Office hours will be held on Thursday February 5th from 2pm to 3pm eastern standard time.
If you have any additional questions, please contact us at info@homegrownchildcare.org
FAQs
Selected participants will be invited to participate in a paid planning period for 6 months. Participants who successfully complete the planning phase and complete an action plan will be invited to participate in an 18 month learning community.
During planning, provider leaders will receive a $1,000 stipend for engaging in activities which include:
- Virtual meetings
- Training sessions
- Meeting with mentors
- Developing an Action Plan
During implementation, provider leaders will receive $600 per month stipends when engaging in the project activities.
Additionally, grant funds are available to support network activities such as events or purchase of technology or services for the network.
Note: Provider/caregiver leaders who receive funding will need to report the stipend funds as income. Home Grown will connect selected leaders with consultants to support you with this.
Please submit your application by February 20th, 2026.
Home Grown staff, provider mentors and provider advisors will review applications and conduct interviews and select a diverse group of provider leaders.
We will contact finalists for interviews during the week of February 23-27, and expect to hold the interviews the first week of March (from March 2-6).
Participants must be actively caring for children and this should be your primary job or community role. We believe that providers who are experienced in their caregiving roles will be more successful in this program.