West Central Initiative

COVID-19 Impact

The state’s stay-at-home order greatly impacted child-care providers. A large percentage of the providers lost 50% to 70% of the children in their care, along with the income associated with those children. Other providers expanded their hours to accommodate specific employers, such as the local hospital, continuing their child care from early morning until late into the night. Many providers also expanded their care to school-age children, providing space and technology to continue with distance learning. This is all at a time when disinfectant products and toiletries are scarce and food costs are increasing.

Emergency Fund

West Central Initiative leverages partnerships to provide families and communities in west-central Minnesota with the resources they need to thrive. With support from Home Grown, they allocated $1,000 to every 100 family-based providers on a first-come, first-served basis. Most funds were used for cleaning supplies, infrared thermometers, food—and even mortgage payments.

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. 

HBCC champions

Parents Champion Home-Based Child Care

HomeGrown4

Improving Child Care Licensing By Listening and Partnering with Family Child Care Providers

Home Grown 100 days

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.