First Children's Finance
Report date
November 2018
What has been most instrumental to your progress?
The overall goal of our grant funding was to improve the Greater Than MN Project process, increase its impact by improving the community engagement process design, and expand its presence in rural North Dakota and Minnesota. As the project moved from a pilot phase to a program, it was renamed the Rural Child Care Innovation Program (RCCIP). Several improvements had significant impact on communities: 1) the implementation of an application process required communities to demonstrate their willingness to participate in the process and to garner local leadership to champion the process, 2) recruitment of a diverse Core Team of local leaders and onboarding them to the process increased their capacity to lead innovation over time, 3) moving communities beyond studying the child care shortage through an improved, supported implementation process began to result in new child care slots, new community partnerships and the investment of local resources into child care.
In Phase 1, FCF learned a great deal about how to effectively work across an entire state with limited staff capacity. FCF created internal financial models for the costs of delivering Business Leadership Cohorts and the RCCIP program in each region of the state, ensuring that we have budgeted and obtained an appropriate level of funding to sustain our work and deliver on our promised outcomes. As interest in the RCCIP has grown, we experienced an increased demand to add new communities to the project. In July 2017, FCF opened an application round for 4 communities to join the RCCIP, and we received 17 applications for the 4 slots. In 2015, FCF added two Business Development Specialists to work on the RCCIP, and the team has recently expanded again to add another 2 Business Development Specialists. This increased capacity has enabled us to adequately serve rural communities with more staff.
Throughout the Phase 2 redesign, FCF has identified alternative ways for communities to access the RCCIP project. In many cases, communities don’t need the entire community engagement process, but need technical assistance regarding child care licensing or program financial modeling. FCF has developed affordable consulting packages, increasing access to specific technical assistance, and diversifying FCF’s earned revenue prospects. FCF continues to share lessons learned from the RCCIP at conferences, state and national webinars and community meetings to encourage communities to reframe child care as a rural economic development strategy.
Key lessons learned
FCF continues to be challenged by demand for the RCCIP, as well as consultation and technical assistance for rural communities. Although the team has expanded in size, FCF still needs to explore ways to deliver these services by adding capacity across North Dakota and Minnesota.
As mentioned in the midterm report, one the stark differences between the two states is the amount of public funding dedicated to child care and early childhood. The public funding conversation in Minnesota has resulted in communities feeling empowered to demand solutions for the rural child care crisis. There was an unprecedented amount of debate during the legislative session, and local media, the private sector and local governments were raising concerns about the impact of child care shortages on the rural economy. Because North Dakota has not historically funding child care or early education in systemic or adequate way, it was a 'harder sell' for communities. All the same factors exist: the economy suffers when child care is in short supply. However, there is not a statewide awareness of the importance of this issue, and our work in ND was slower as a result.
As mentioned in the midterm report, one the stark differences between the two states is the amount of public funding dedicated to child care and early childhood. The public funding conversation in Minnesota has resulted in communities feeling empowered to demand solutions for the rural child care crisis. There was an unprecedented amount of debate during the legislative session, and local media, the private sector and local governments were raising concerns about the impact of child care shortages on the rural economy. Because North Dakota has not historically funding child care or early education in systemic or adequate way, it was a 'harder sell' for communities. All the same factors exist: the economy suffers when child care is in short supply. However, there is not a statewide awareness of the importance of this issue, and our work in ND was slower as a result.
Reflections on the community innovation process
The Community Innovative Breakthrough was the most related to our work completed through the grant term. Throughout the two years, FCF partnered with 9 communities to develop innovative solutions that would result in an increase in child care slots, and local investment of resources into new and existing child care businesses. Each of the 9 communities approached the issue with different ideas, but worked on implementing ideas that could make a difference.
At the conclusion of 2017, FCF had assisted in the creation of 533 new child care slots. The timeline for the creation of new licensed child care slots can vary, and often extends to a 24 month (or longer) timeline. Although FCF has counted 533 new slots, many more remain the development pipeline. As financing and partnerships are established, we anticipate that number of child care slots to increase. Through our community engagement process, we educated 583 community members about the realities of the child care model and shared strategies that they could use to support new and existing child care through investment, co-location and community partnerships.
At the conclusion of 2017, FCF had assisted in the creation of 533 new child care slots. The timeline for the creation of new licensed child care slots can vary, and often extends to a 24 month (or longer) timeline. Although FCF has counted 533 new slots, many more remain the development pipeline. As financing and partnerships are established, we anticipate that number of child care slots to increase. Through our community engagement process, we educated 583 community members about the realities of the child care model and shared strategies that they could use to support new and existing child care through investment, co-location and community partnerships.
Progress toward an innovation
First Children's Finance is much closer to breakthroughs than when we started the grant term. Over the past 4 years (including a previous two-year CI grant), FCF has partnered with 20 communities. We are beginning to see the results of our early initiatives: the child care supply typically increases long after the RCCIP ends, and sometimes even after grant funding ends. We will continue to track progress, local resources invested, and additional slots created.
As we exapnded RCCIP to ND, we gained valuable insight into how to leverage licensed group care and cooperatives to impact supply.
Our initiative has been helpful in advocating for additional resources for child care supply at the Minnesota Legislature. For the first time in history, the Minnesota DEED received a legislative allocation to provide grants directly to rural Minnesota communities who were building facilities for child care programs that would result in new slots. The impact and effectiveness of the RCCIP allowed FCF to obtain additional funding from Minnesota Department of Human Services for Fiscal Year 18 and Fiscal Year 19, increasing the sustainability of this work from a systems perspective.
As we exapnded RCCIP to ND, we gained valuable insight into how to leverage licensed group care and cooperatives to impact supply.
Our initiative has been helpful in advocating for additional resources for child care supply at the Minnesota Legislature. For the first time in history, the Minnesota DEED received a legislative allocation to provide grants directly to rural Minnesota communities who were building facilities for child care programs that would result in new slots. The impact and effectiveness of the RCCIP allowed FCF to obtain additional funding from Minnesota Department of Human Services for Fiscal Year 18 and Fiscal Year 19, increasing the sustainability of this work from a systems perspective.
One last thought
Emmons County was selected into the RCCIP during the second year of this grant term. Their Core Team is actively working to establish a child care cooperative, leveraging the family group licensing model available in ND. FCF continues to partner with USDA and ND Early Learning leaders in Bismarck to advocate for additional funding to early childhood initiatives. As a result of our partnerships, the ND Child Care Administrator is implementing additional child care business supports.