Child Care Start-Up and Expansion Grant​

The Child Care Start-Up and Expansion Grant offers financial assistance of up to $10,000 for child care centers and $5,000 for child care homes to enhance service capacity. Eligible applicants include individuals, groups, and existing programs aiming to meet licensing requirements or expand services. This initiative supports new quality child care programs and modifications to existing ones, ensuring providers can maintain operations and child care subsidy enrollment for three years.

NOTE: Depending on the availability of funds, the money will be awarded to qualifying applicants each month.
Awards a maximum of $5,000 for Child Care Homes, and a maximum of $10,000 for Child Care Centers. Applicants must meet one of the following criteria to be eligible for funding:
A new (not yet licensed) Child Care Home or Child Care Center making minor building modifications or purchasing equipment necessary to meet licensing requirements.
An existing licensed Child Care Home or Child Care Center making minor building modifications or purchasing equipment to increase the license capacity in order to serve additional infants, school-age children, and/or children with special needs.​
An existing licensed program making modifications or purchasing equipment in order to expand from a Family Child Care Home I to a Family Child Care Home II, or a Family Child Care Home II to a Child Care Center.
Purpose
The purpose of the Child Care Start-Up and Expansion Grant is to provide assistance in new (not yet licensed) quality child care programs, or to increase the license capacity of existing quality child care programs. Applicants must be awarded the grant before they are awarded their Child Care License.
This may be done in one of the following ways:
Assisting licensed providers who wish to expand their program with items required to meet licensing requirements with appropriate documentation;Making minor building modifications absolutely necessary to meet licensing requirements for new (not yet licensed) programs;Making Minor Building Modifications or purchasing equipment to increase the number of Infants, Children with Disabilities, Ill Children, and/or School-Aged Children served; orMaking Minor Building Modifications for licensed providers changing from a Family Child Care
Home I to a Family Child Care Home II, or a Family Child Care Home II to a Child Care Center.
Funding
The Child Care Start-Up and Expansion Grants will be awarded based on need for the proposed services in the community. Once funded, providers must remain in business and maintain a Child Care Subsidy Enrollment for three consecutive years.

Eligibility

Groups;
Community-based organizations (those providing Full-Service Resource and Referral and child care services);Public and non-public schools; and
Existing child care programs (including Family Child Care Home I/II and Child Care Centers).Centers, community-based agencies, or other organizations with multiple sites are eligible to submit one application per site. Grants will only be awarded to individuals or organizations that do not discriminate against children with disabilities and children whose care is funded by any state or federal funds (e.g. Child Care Subsidy).

Ineligibility

Pre-school programs and programs that offer drop-in care only are not eligible.