National Resources
From One Generation to the Next: New Model Addresses Critical Transition
A handful of pioneering states have unlocked unprecedented funding for early childhood education, moving ever closer to fully financed child care systems with adequate access, high quality care, and a well-compensated workforce. At the same time, child care workers and owners across the country are an aging demographic, and many are reaching retirement. Recruiting and retaining the workforce of tomorrow remains a pressing challenge. In this transition a new question emerges: Who will own the increasingly valuable child care businesses that public investments help create?
Download NowCompensation Investments: What Systems Leaders Can Learn from Child Care Business Owners
Across the country, state and local leaders agree on the challenge: child care jobs are among the lowest-paid in the economy, workforce shortages are profound, and program sustainability is fragile. Increasing compensation is essential—but how those investments are designed and implemented can determine whether they truly strengthen the workforce or introduce new risks.
Download NowImproving Child Care Facilities with Federal Relief Funding: Lessons Learned from the Implementation of the American Rescue Plan Act
This report examines child care facility investments made with COVID-era federal funding. Drawing on interviews with state leaders and child care directors, as well as in-depth analysis of state spending allocations, it offers actionable recommendations for states, tribes, territories, and federal agencies. The report highlights strategies to maximize impact and build on effective lessons learned from funding initiatives that supported a broad range of child care facility improvements and investments.
Download NowFrom Banks to Blocks: How Access to Capital Shapes the Child Care Sector in Nebraska
This report, conducted on behalf of the Nebraska Early Childhood Coalition, explores the capital landscape for child care entrepreneurs throughout Nebraska to determine what capital was available, who knew about it, and who was successful in accessing it. Recommendations for increasing equitable access to financing are included.
Download NowInnovative Licensing: Infinite Possibility to Grow the Child Care Supply
Child care licensing innovations hold great promise as a strategy states, territories, and tribes can use to effectively build the supply of child care. First Children’s Finance’s Innovative Licensing Memo outlines innovations that can encourage entrepreneurship and remove barriers of new child care businesses launching.
Download Now