We are thrilled to announce $2.875 million in grant awards from All In WA’s Child Care Initiative. 

The funds will help child care businesses, specifically Licensed Family Child Care Homes, close revenue gaps and purchase supplies and equipment. They will also provide financial assistance to families (particularly essential workers) who are not eligible for public subsidy. Grants were awarded to 21 organizations with strong relationships among networks of child care providers and the capacity to administer flexible grants to licensed family child care businesses.   

The grants prioritized serving child care business owners who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and located in rural and remote areas. Thank you to all our donors who have gone All In for WA and contributed to the Initiative. Applications are now open for the second grant cycle focused on licensed non-profit child care centers. Click here to learn more and download grant guidelines.

Child Care Initiative Grants to support Family Child Care Businesses (Licensed Family Child Care Homes):

African Chamber of Commerce serves African business owners and entrepreneurs, by providing training, technical assistance, and support to family child care business owners. This grant will support up to 80 Black-owned child care businesses in King and Pierce Counties. (This project is fiscally sponsored by African Community Empowerment.)

Child Care Action Council of Thurston County serves child care providers in six counties with technical assistance, coaching, and implementation of the Early Achievers program. This grant will support up to 130 family child care business owners in Mason and Grays Harbor Counties.

Child Care Resources, in partnership with First 5 FUNdamentals, is focused on serving the child care field and resolving the challenges presented by the pandemic. This grant will support up to 56 BIPOC family child care businesses in Pierce County.

Colville Tribes serves the needs of families with young children through its early childhood Head Start and Child Care Programs. Grant funds will be used to support the child care program, which serves 100% tribal children, primarily in Ferry County.

Community-Minded Enterprises has a mission to transform communities in Washington state while advancing diversity and inclusion of marginalized populations so all people have an opportunity for equitable health, education, and safety. Their core initiatives include a focus on quality child care and early learning. This grant will support up 27 family child care businesses in Columbia and Walla Walla Counties serving a high percentage of Latinx families and essential workers.

North Central Early Learning Collaborative, comprised of 15 early learning stakeholders from Chelan, Douglas, Grant, and Okanogan counties, works to strengthen the early learning system in these Central Washington counties. This grant will support up to 38 BIPOC business owners in Grant, Chelan, and Okanogan Counties. 

Educational Service District 112, host of Child Care Aware of SW Washington, provides coaching, training, technical assistance, and support to child care providers across a 7-county region. This grant will support up to 23 BIPOC-owned family child care businesses, predominantly in Clark and Cowlitz Counties.

FW Black Collective aims to bring families together by connecting them to resources and services that provide stable and culturally reflective child care necessary for healthy development and caregiver well-being with enhanced wraparound services. This grant will support 25 child care providers, the vast majority of whom are Black, in Federal Way (King County).

Integration Family Services (IFS) was founded in response to COVID-19 by Somali child care providers, parents, and families. This grant will support up to 100 family child care business owners in King County that are primarily Somali and immigrant/refugees. 

Jefferson Healthcare Foundation has launched the “Child Care is Essential” program to ensure healthcare workers have access to care and child care providers can make ends meet. Grant funds will be used to support 5 family child care businesses providing care for health care workers in Jefferson and Clallam Counties. 

Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has responded to the pandemic by providing child care to tribal essential workers such as police and health care workers. This grant will support the tribe’s child care program, which serves 87% Native children. The tribe is located in Clallam County.

Lummi Nation, through its Community Services Program, provides USDA commodity foods to all tribal members, including those who run family child care businesses on the reservation. This grant will support up to 15 family child care businesses serving members of the Lummi Nation in Whatcom County.

Nisqually Indian Tribe, through its child care program, has been working to address the needs of tribal families, regardless of income. Grant funds will be used to offset the cost of child care for tribal families that do not qualify for state or federal subsidies. The tribe is located in Thurston County. 

Opportunity Council, as part of the NW Center for Child Care Retention and Expansion, is working to sustain, strengthen and expand child care in Island, San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom Counties. This grant will support up to 115 family child care business owners in Skagit and Snohomish Counties, the majority of which are Latinx.

Puyallup Tribe of Indians is working to provide vital resources to expand access to affordable child care for tribal families as well as families of Native children located off the reservation. This grant will support up to 10 family child care businesses serving Native children in Pierce County. 

Rural Community Development Resources provides a range of training, technical assistance, and other support to businesses in Central Washington, especially Spanish-speaking Latinx businesses. This grant will support up to 23 Latinx family child care businesses in Yakima, Franklin, and Benton Counties.

Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe provides a variety of supports to tribal families that are facing hardship during the pandemic, including job losses. This grant will support the tribal child care program, serving 100% native children. The tribe serves Skagit and Snohomish Counties.

The Imagine Institute offers support and services to early childhood educators across the state, including training, higher education, grants, and access to the State Substitute Pool. This grant will support up to 60 BIPOC family child care businesses in Eastern Counties of Adams, Ferry, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens, and Whitman.

Voices of Tomorrow serves as a resource and hub for immigrant and refugee family child care providers in King and Pierce Counties. This grant will support up to 250 immigrant and refugee business owners.

Yakima Valley Community Foundation serves as the fiscal agent for the Investing in Children Coalition working in Yakima and Kittitas Counties. This grant will support up to 54 Spanish-speaking family child care businesses in these two counties. 

Olympic Peninsula YMCA, as part of the Child Care Alliance, is focused on retaining and sustaining existing child care providers in Clallam County, a county in which 24% of licensed child care sites have closed since the pandemic started. This grant will support up to 20 family child care businesses, with an emphasis on geographic areas with little child care or those experiencing disproportionate attribution of child care businesses.