Our National Work
Building a sustainable supply of child care is a challenge for city, county, state, federal and Tribal governments. Child care is an essential public good delivered mainly outside the public infrastructure.
Since 2019, FCF’s National teams have worked across diverse economic, geographic, and political environments to:
- Support and strengthen child care businesses
- Build a robust supply of child care in communities
- Analyze supply gaps
- Create partnerships among providers, businesses, and community members
Helping Businesses, Communities, States, and Tribal Nations Succeed
Across the country, FCF’s National Teams help build and sustain the child care pipeline. States and Tribal Nations turn to us to solve large systemic issues; communities seek our help to alleviate child care shortages; and businesses work with us because they want to grow and provide the best care possible.
The following sections show examples of the ways we engage with communities and state/Tribal governments every day. A more comprehensive list of our work can be found on our Publications Library.
Providing Training Cohorts and Consultation Helps Drive Positive Outcomes
- Child Care Business Training and Consultation: In 2023 and 2024, FCF engaged more than 500 child care business leaders in Business Leadership Cohorts, trainings, and individual consultations in Wisconsin, Montana, and Oregon. Trainings are offered in multiple states.
Helping Tribal Nations Navigate Across Tribal/State/Federal Environments
ECE Business Collaboratory:
Designed to build the capacity of cross-sector Tribal leaders in thinking systemically about child care, the Collaboratory breaks down the silos around early learning and care programming. It draws attention to the many sectors that impact child care business supply and sustainability, including economic development, workforce, and finance.
First Children First Nations Child Care Collaborative:
Delivered in partnership with All Nations Rise, FCFN is a two-year planning and implementation process that builds the capacity of Tribes to identify the scope and size of their child care challenges and develop local solutions to address these challenges. The FCFN process engages and informs community members and Tribal leadership about the links among quality child care, economic development, and healthy communities.
To find out more about our work with Tribal Nations, visit the Tribal Nations and Communities page.
Child Care Supply Building and Planning
- Over the past two years, FCF has worked with Wisconsin’s Department of Children and Families Project Growth: Dream Up! to address child care supply and sustainability. Thirty-seven communities engaged in FCF’s Strategic Child Care Supply Planning to create localized plans.
- In Indiana, a core team of community leaders in Bartholomew, Jackson, and Jennings counties engaged with community members to learn about child care and its challenges and to propose solutions to meet the region’s needs.
Minnesota Cost Model
FCF conducted a Cost of Care Study methodology informed by child care business owners and administrators, using key business data to inform child care subsidy rates.
Let us help your state agency think comprehensively about policies and funding that impact the sustainability of child care businesses. 
Recommendations to Maximize Alaska’s Federal Funding Allocated to Child Care Subsidy
FCF consulted with the State of Alaska’s Child Care Program Office (CCPO) to support planning related to COVID-19 relief funding for their child care subsidy system. The goal of the consultations was to analyze relevant data to identify immediate and long-term interventions to stabilize child care businesses and to help ensure the future of equitable access to high-quality child care for all Alaskans. FCF offered specific policy and process recommendations as well as associated implementation resources. FCF engaged with the CCPO to ensure the final report provided realistic, actionable recommendations aligned with the capacity of the CCPO.
You can find more information about Alaska’s CCPO here.
