Leading from Home: Investing in HBCC Provider Leaders
Seeking Provider Leaders
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 community 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.
- Are You a Provider Leader?
- The Challenge
- Program Overview
- Eligibility Criteria
- Featured Providers
- FAQs
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Are you a provider leader?
If you answer yes to at least one statement in each column, we want to hear from you. Please click all that apply.
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 providers and families to inform policy decisions and actions. We seek to build and support community leaders and their goals to influence policy and systems.
Provider leaders in Leading from Home might work toward one of more of following goals:
- I want to connect with my local and state representatives to improve their support of home-based providers
- I want community resources to better meet the needs of home-based providers
- I want family, friend, and neighbor caregivers to be included in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) in my state
- I want family, friend, and neighbor caregivers to be able to access child care subsidies or vouchers in my state
- I want my state to use a cost of care model to set (and increase) child care subsidy rates for home-based providers
- I 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 and families as they work to make positive change.
Program Overview
Home Grown is creating a leadership network of providers/caregivers in communities across the country. These provider-led informal groups 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
- 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
Eligibility Criteria
Individuals are encouraged to apply. 501(c)(3) status is not required.
Priority will go to 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.
- Include parents as partners in your network convenings.
Criteria: We are looking for applicants who:
- Are existing home-based child providers or caregivers. 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. This can be a formal network or informal group of providers/caregivers that you regularly communicate and meet with.
- 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:
Webinar
Register for a webinar to learn more about Leading from Home and hear from past participants:
Tues, April 16th, 5:00-6:00 pm Eastern (2:00-3:00pm Pacific)
Wed, May 1st, 1:00-2:00 pm Eastern (10:00-11:00am Pacific)
Office hours
Drop in during our office hours on Thurs, April 25th from 2:00-3:00pm Eastern (11:00-12:00 Pacific) to ask questions about the program or your application.
If you have any additional questions, please contact us at jennifer@homegrownchildcare.org
Language Preferences
Home Grown is gathering information about language preferences to help us better accommodate providers in the future. If you would like this content in another language, please fill out this brief form and let us know.
FAQs
Provider/caregiver leaders will receive $1,000 monthly stipends for up to 12 months, plus funding for additional expenses related to network activities and engagement (e.g., technology, meeting expenses, transportation).
These funds are intended to support you as you grow and empower your network of providers or caregivers to make positive change for home-based child care. The $1,000 monthly stipend is compensation for you, the provider/caregiver network leader. Networks with co-leaders may divide the stipend across both leaders (e.g., $500 each for two co-leaders).
Additional funding is available to support network activities, which may include but are not limited to:
- Engagement barriers (transportation, virtual meeting platforms)
- Costs associated with in-person gatherings when safe to do so (e.g., space rental, food)
- Mailings and postage
Home Grown will make additional supports available to you to assist with planning and the implementation of your plans including: logistical/administrative supports and problem solving; strategic and planning supports; communications resources. We will work with you to fund trusted technical assistance partners or to identify mission-aligned vendors and partners.
Please submit your application by Wednesday, May 15th.
Home Grown staff, funders, and provider advisors will review applications and conduct interviews and select a diverse group of provider leaders.
We will contact finalists for interviews by mid-June. We plan to announce participant selections by July 2024.
The funding for this work is provided by a subset of Home Grown’s funders.
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.
Priority will be given to current home-based child providers serving one or more children.