Grant to home-based child care network expands training statewide

A nonprofit network supporting home-based private child care businesses in Fairfield and New Haven Counties is expanding its work statewide thanks to a $250,000 grant.

The quasi-public Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority, which provides financial support to educational institutions and health care organizations, announced Wednesday it’s made the award to All Our Kin, a national nonprofit that offers free business training and education support to thousands of family child care providers .

All Our Kin intends to put the funds toward offering its classes in more rural and under-resourced regions of the state, including Eastern Connecticut, and helping home-based educators obtain national accreditation.

Jessica Sager, chief executive of All Our Kin, said the grant will help the organization serve hundreds more educators. There are currently about 1,800 such businesses in Connecticut, each serving between six and nine students — many of them infants and toddlers.

“Connecticut’s families need quality child care. They need programs that work for their schedules and for the individual needs of their young children,” Sager said. “Family child care does just that.”

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Lawrence Davis, chair of CHEFA’s grant committee, called the grant “a double win for the state of Connecticut’s economy.” Thousands of working parents in Connecticut require child care to be able to participate in the labor force.

Davis sees CHEFA’s partnership with All Our Kin as “fostering an environment where educators are empowered to succeed, both as caregivers and business owners,” he said. Expanding All Our Kin’s programs “ensures that the quality of child care throughout Connecticut is enhanced and educators are better equipped to manage and grow their business — so that more families have access to this critical resource, and these small business owners can thrive,” he said.

Still, quality child care — whether it’s accessible or not — remains difficult for many families to afford. Expanding home-based child care capacity only addresses part of the problem.

The Legislature approved an additional $23.9 million in funding for child care this year, primarily designated for Care 4 Kids, a voucher program for lower-income families. That’s a far cry from the estimated $150 million a Blue Ribbon Panel, convened by Gov. Ned Lamont, had called for this year in a detailed strategic plan aimed at overhauling the struggling sector.

“If we want to address affordability, we have to be putting money into the system to enable parents to pay,” Sager said. “Affordability can only come with state funding and support.”

House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, pointed to this year’s passage of House Bill 5002 , which established a framework for the Early Childhood Care and Education Fund. And while the legislature didn’t allocate any money to the fund , state leaders and advocates say the fund’s structure and function — apart from the state general fund — could attract necessary investments in the coming years.

“We’ve got a lot to do between now and January,” Ritter said at a press conference with CHEFA and All Our Kin Wednesday. “At the end of the day, next year, my gut tells me when you see a biennium budget, whether it’s from the governor, proposed by Republicans or Democrats, you’re going to see an emphasis on child care. That point has been well made.”

“The fact that [All Our Kin is] getting grants in furtherance of the things that we think are really important as a state legislature, I think, shows we’re working hand in hand, which is great,” Ritter said.