FCF Selects 3 New Communities to RCCIP

First Children’s Finance – Minnesota Team is pleased to announce the selection of communities into the Rural Child Care Innovation Program. The Rural Child Care Innovation Program (RCCIP) is a community engagement process designed to address the challenges of child care in Greater Minnesota.  First Children’s Finance has chosen three new communities to participate in the Fall 2021 application process: Cook County, New Ulm, and Ortonville. Additional communities will be chosen for the process in January 2022.

“We are excited to announce these partnerships in the RCCIP process with Cook County, New Ulm, and Ortonville,” says Teri Steckelberg, Business Development Manager at First Children’s Finance, “because child care is a critical piece to economic development in Greater MN communities. In our experience, the RCCIP process is an effective tool in identifying solutions.”

Nancie Deming, Co-Core Team Leader for Cook County, says “Our team is looking forward to collaborating with First Children’s Finance, community members, providers, and parents to design an early childhood program that meets the unique needs of Cook County’s young families. Research shows that high quality care for our youngest children is essential for the health and well-being of our communities. We are honored to be a part of this visioning process for our future.”

The Rural Child Care Innovation Program is based on the fundamental idea that by mobilizing and empowering rural communities, the landscape of early care and education can change in rural America. The selected communities will complete a community engagement process that will include brainstorming of solutions to the child care shortage utilizing existing assets and creating new partnerships within the community. A local Core Team is formed in each community to lead this work. The core teams will begin meeting in October 2021. The entire community will be invited to provide feedback and input on the child care plan and help to develop solutions at a Town Hall Meeting hosted in each individual community in January 2022.

Is your community interested in applying for the RCCIP? Another application window will be available to Greater MN communities in December 2021, with a submission deadline of January 7, 2022.

Funding for this program is provided by the Minnesota Department of Human Services.