FCF Assists State of Oregon in Addressing Child Care Ecosystem Gaps
Oregon’s early child care ecosystem – like most states’ – is complex and often fragmented.
To address the need for cross-sector coordination, the Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care brought in First Children’s Finance (FCF to launch a virtual statewide ECE Business Collaborative, which brought together a diverse group of technical assistance providers, policymakers, and system leaders from across the state.
The Collaborative – which launched in early 2024 – had three goals: align efforts across sectors; increase the supply and sustainability of child care programs; and promote innovation and equitable access to resources, especially for small, rural, frontier, and Tribal child care providers.
Approximately 30 individuals participated in the Collaborative, including:
- State agency staff (Department of Early Learning and Care)
- Child care technical assistance providers
- Tribal business TA providers
- Community-based organizations
- ECE funders and intermediaries
- Universities
FCF facilitated monthly Collaborative meetings using its Child Care Business Ecosystem framework to guide mapping, analysis, and planning. As the Collaborative shifted to planning, subgroups were established to address three identified priorities: business training and education, workforce, and facilities planning.
FCF provided facilitation, documentation, and knowledge-sharing tools, including a living ecosystem map and quarterly meeting summaries.
Participants found the Collaborative’s work insightful.
“This was the first time we’ve had the right people in the room to talk about these issues from a systems perspective.”
“I came away with a clear understanding of where our gaps are, and where our opportunities lie.”
As a result of the work, the Collaborative’s May 2025 summative report and implementation plan included three priority strategies:
- Training and Education: Align and expand access to child care business technical assistance.
- Workforce Compensation: Develop a shared statewide vision rooted in national best practices and Oregon-specific data.
- Facilities Planning: Support the state’s development of a Facilities Navigator tool to reduce barriers and improve access to physical child care spaces.
Now that the group’s initial report is complete, the subgroups will move into implementation, with a focus on data-driven decision making and partner engagement.
The group will finalize and publish a public-facing ecosystem implementation report for wider dissemination and host a final convening in December 2026 to share learnings and plan for sustained coordination.
While the Oregon Business Collaborative had unique characteristics, First Children’s Finance grounded the approach in our Business Collaboratory model that included experience gained from four years of prior work through FCF’s ECE Business Collaboratory, which ran from 2020–2024 and engaged 16 states and 10 Tribal Nations in mapping and improving their child care business ecosystems.
The approach of the Oregon ECE Business Collaborative was grounded in the Child Care Business Ecosystem framework created by FCF. This framework identifies the 11 essential elements of a strong, sufficient, and sustainable system of high-quality child care, including Workforce, Training and Education, Facilities Planning, Business Efficiency, and System Reform.
The Ecosystem serves as both an assessment tool and a planning tool, offering a comprehensive structure to understand the policy and programmatic levers available to systems leaders that can enhance the sustainability of child care businesses.
Reach out if you have similar challenges or are interested in bringing this approach to your state, Tribe, or community. Email infonational@firstchildrensfinance.org to start a conversation!
