Natalie Renew is the Executive Director of Home Grown, a national initiative committed to improving the quality of and access to home-based child care. She is an early childhood professional with more than 15 years of experience in the nonprofit and social service sector supporting children and families furthest from opportunity.

Natalie Renew
Executive Director
Articles by Natalie Renew
Making Sense of This Moment: How Is Home-Based Child Care Doing 100 Days Into the Trump Administration?
In the first 100 days of the Trump Administration, we saw sweeping changes to many aspects of American policy and many more have been proposed. This blog post lays out key information to support you in making sense of this moment and taking action to protect yourself and your community and to impact the outcome of the proposed actions.

Supporting HBCC With Tax Policy
To support home-based child care with tax policy, there are opportunities for organizations to make federal policy asks or for local governments to replicate some existing, successful programs.

¿Qué le espera a Home Grown en 2025?
En Home Grown, nuestro trabajo y enfoque no han cambiado en 2025: trabajamos por un futuro donde todos los niños prosperen y donde los adultos más cercanos a ellos, es decir, sus padres y cuidadores, sean valorados y apoyados. Descubre cómo planeamos perseverar en nuestra misión.

What’s ahead for Home Grown in 2025?
At Home Grown, our work and focus are unchanged in 2025: We are working for a future where all children thrive and where the adults closest to our children, namely their parents and care providers, are valued and supported. Learn more about how we plan to persist in our mission.
Respuesta a la crisis: ayuda económica en tiempos de desastre
La financiación de emergencia es una parte fundamental del trabajo de Home Grown. Home Grown ha formado un equipo nacional de organizaciones y socios para diseñar e implementar el Fondo de Emergencia de Home Grown para Cuidado Infantil en el Hogar ante Clima Severo y Desastres Nacionales.
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.
Los Enfoques de Compensación Holística Priorizan el Acceso a Beneficios
Home Grown cree que para reformar nuestro sistema de cuidado infantil deben existir enfoques de compensación holísticos para los proveedores que incluyan salarios justos, acceso a atención médica, jubilación, asistencia nutricional, apoyo de vivienda, tiempo de licencia pagado, condonación de deudas y otros.
Avanzando en un tema complejo: Imaginando un nuevo enfoque para las licencias de cuidado infantil familiar
Este informe de recomendaciones sobre cuidado infantil familiar brinda una visión profunda de los desafíos que enfrentan los proveedores en los sistemas actuales de licencias de cuidado infantil familiar estatales y recomienda soluciones para ayudar a diseñar la reforma del sistema utilizando las perspectivas y la experiencia de los proveedores de la FCC.
Making Progress Through a Complex Issue: Imagining a New Family Child Care Licensing Approach
This family child care recommendation report provides in-depth insight into the challenges providers face in current family child care state licensing systems and recommended solutions to help design system reform using FCC provider perspectives and expertise.
Los cambios en las reglas federales ofrecen oportunidades para incluir mejor el cuidado infantil familiar en Head Start
Home Grown comparte nuestras recomendaciones para garantizar que los proveedores de cuidado infantil familiar (CCF) puedan participar en los beneficios de los cambios propuestos por la Administración para la mano de obra de Head Start y ayudar a satisfacer la necesidad de una atención y educación tempranas de alta calidad, accesibles y asequibles.
Federal Rules Changes Offer Opportunities to Better Include Family Child Care in Head Start
Home Grown shares our recommendations to ensure that family child care (FCC) providers can share in the benefits of the changes proposed by the Administration for the Head Start workforce and help meet the need for high-quality, accessible and affordable early care and education.
Looking Ahead to 2024: Finding Hope and Taking Action in an Uncertain Year
At Home Grown, we are looking at the year ahead of us and are hopeful for the future of home-based child care and the work we are doing to improve the sector. Learn more about what we're hopeful for from 2023 and what we'll be working toward in 2024.
Holistic Compensation Approaches Prioritize Benefits Access
Home Grown believes that to reform our child care system there should be holistic compensation approaches for providers that include fair wages, access health care retirement, nutrition assistance, housing support, paid leave, loan forgiveness and others.
Diving into the Data: How Data Can Shift the Narrative for Home-based Child Care
When Home Grown launched four years ago, there was little data around home-based child care. Today we celebrate the current interest and investment in researching home-based care and look toward how data can shift the narrative in the future.
A Look Back at Home-based Child Care in 2022 and Our Hope for 2023
Home Grown looks back at the major events in home-based child care in 2022 and shares hopes for the sector's future in 2023.
Home Grown Is Growing Up: We Are Three!
Celebrating three years as an organization, we share highlights of the organization's model for innovation and replication that has positively impacted child care across the nation.
New Federal PDG B-5 Funding: An Opportunity to Expand Programs and Systems Support for Home-Based Child Care
Learn more about the U.S. DHHS's Administration for Children and Families' September 2022 Notices of Funding Opportunities and how they will affect the home-based child care sector.
Home Grown Celebrates the Introduction of the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act
Read Home Grown's statement on the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act and the proposed investments in the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
Stabilizing the Economic Well-Being of Family, Friend Neighbor Providers
Greater attention to, inclusion of, and support for Family Friend and Neighbor caregivers is an urgent priority to ensure economic stabilization.
Valuing and Including FFN Care in Early Childhood Systems
With new federal investments, now is the time to make our system more inclusive and equitable by including FFN caregivers in child care financing and quality improvement programs.
Pandemic Prompts Oklahoma Policymakers to Expand Access to Child Care
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services and the George Kaiser Family Foundation created Kith.care to support essential workers in qualifying and paying their relatives for in-home child care.
Home-Based Child Care Providers Need Improved Access to Federal Loans Now
Home Grown’s program succeeded in helping some home-based providers access PPP funds, but many were shut out of this public funding in a time of crisis.
Turning Home for the Holidays: The Importance of Investing in In-Home Child Care
We must make sure working families can find safe, affordable, accessible child care, and we need not look farther than our homes.
The Aunt Bees of America
Sen. Elizabeth Warren spoke about the critical role informal, home-based child care played in her life, speaking specifically about her Aunt Bee, who helped raise her children.