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Upcoming Events
Aug. 8 & 10, 5:30-7:30 p.m. - Child Care Business Boot Camp with First Children's Finance - Starting and Running a Successful Child Care Business
Sept. 13-14: Montana Child Care Business Connect Summit - see below for more information, including registration!
Highlights From This Past Month
Summer is in full swing and we're delighted to share a few exciting updates. A couple weeks ago, Alex DuBois and I traveled to Washington D.C. and met up with early childhood policy colleagues from other states to share our state stories and build relationships with our Montana Congressional Delegation (the above picture is from a meeting we attended at the White House.) Big thanks to the Alliance for Early Success!
Thanks to all of our community and network partners, we were able to share great stories and examples of what's hopeful and challenging for families and employers across our state. However, they need to hear from more parents, and Montanans who want to see child care, Head Start, and capacity supports prioritized in the federal budget. We hope you can take a minute out of your day to help send an important message. Here's the link: bit.ly/MTworkingfamilies.
In other good news, the Montana Child Care Business Connect team has been hitting the road and planning an amazing summit for September. We received the good news we've been accepted to participate in ZERO TO THREE's Built for Babies technical assistance grant (more below), as well as the U.S. Chamber Foundation's National Child Care Advisory Board (more to come!)
Please reach out anytime - we'd love to connect with you!
Zero to Five Montana expands tribal early childhood work
Zero to Five Montana has received a grant to build on the organization’s early childhood work aimed at improving outcomes for Montana’s tribal communities. The funding was awarded by ZERO TO THREE, a national organization focused on creating lasting, transformative change for children and their families, as part of the Built for Babies project to support states’ capacity to advance family-centered early childhood policies and systems.
Zero to Five Montana aims to establish a statewide Early Childhood Tribal Coalition centered on tribal voices to help open communication pathways and foster partnerships.
Missoula Child Care Advantage Cold Springs pilot program application open
The application is open for current or future child care providers who are interested in applying to the Missoula Child Care Advantage (MCCA) pilot at Cold Springs.
MCCA is a network of independent child care businesses that use shared services to streamline operations and improve their bottom line.
The MCCA model will be piloted with six participating providers co-located at Cold Springs School.
- Watch a video tour of the facility.
- Apply here
- Visit the MCCA website for more information
Now accepting applications:
Community Capacity Building Program (second cohort)
The community capacity building work of Montana Child Care Business Connect (MCCBC) is kicking off its second Community Cohort. MCCBC will engage up to 10 communities throughout Montana for a period of six months who are interested in addressing their child care gaps through a collaborative community-led process. MCCBC recognizes that communities are at varying levels of implementation, including communities that received Child Care Innovation and Infrastructure Grants through the Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS). The purpose of this cohort is to provide individualized technical assistance while also providing a shared networking space.
MCCBC will offer five main areas of assistance to cohort participants:
- Provide resources, information, and referrals as needed
- Consultation on community strategic and action plan
- Provide 1:1 consultation around business/action planning
- Provide networking opportunities across the state
- Provide Funding for communities that did not receive the Child Care Innovation and Infrastructure Grants through DPHHS
Community participants will follow a process to evaluate, enhance, establish, and expand existing and/or new child care programs. Applications should be submitted by a team of invested community members. Teams are encouraged to include a cross-sector of individuals. Team representatives may include (but are not limited to):
- Local business leaders
- Community and civic organizations
- Economic development programs
- Child care programs
- School districts
- Local government
- City or county administrations
- Parents/families
The purpose of the cohort is to support multi-sector collaboration at the community level for child care solutions that are sustainable. Stand-alone entities such as a school district or child care program should only apply if they have an identified core team. Communities that did not receive the Child Care Innovation and Infrastructure Grants through the Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS) are eligible to apply for up to $5,000 in grant funding.
The application for Cohort 2 closes Aug. 11 at 5 p.m.
MCCBC will gather awardees in-person Sept. 12-14 during the Montana Child Care Business Connect Annual Summit to kick off the second cohort. (More info below!)
Not-So-Tiny Trips with our Community Navigator!
Here’s an update from Shelby, our Community Navigator, on the latest trips and tours around the state:
Kalispell - Last week, I joined a room full of Flathead Valley locals for their cohort steering committee meeting, updating their team on the work towards a thriving early care and education system. We discussed the expansion of local facilities, potential partnerships and incentives, a future marketing and outreach campaign to promote the benefits of becoming a child care provider, and more.
Ravalli – Alex DuBois joined Ravalli County’s virtual meeting and discussed the team’s work gathering input from families, current care providers, and employers/employees to learn more about the child care needs in their community. The majority of survey respondents thus far have been families with young children, whereas in contrast, little response has been received from the business sector. The core team is analyzing the current feedback that has been received and will work over the next few months identifying goals.
Missoula – Senior Child Care Business Advisor Jason Nitschke toured Cold Springs School, the innovation grant project being developed by Missoula Child Care Alliance. Thank you to Grace Decker and Sally Henkel for the tour of the facility to get under construction this fall as well as sharing details of interest to other programs statewide about their shared services model.
Missoula – Amy Paden, owner of plAyBCs, gave Jason a tour of her new family program. plAyBCs opens with eight students in August. Amy comes to entrepreneurship and the early education field after 17 years teaching first grade and special education in Missoula Public Schools. Amy heard about MCCBC through one of our public service announcements (PSA) aired by radio stations statewide. The idea to create a PSA came from Vaughn Zenko, a participant in our 2021 Community Innovation Pilot Project. Serendipitously, Amy and Vaughn were paired in our mentorship-accelerator program. Congratulations to Amy!
Missoula – Jason was also on the University of Montana campus in July touring the Accelerate Montana offices for a quarterly advisory board meeting of the Women’s Entrepreneurship and Leadership Lab (WELL). Discussions included a debrief of the Native Women Launch and Women’s Business Center programs as well as sources of ongoing and match funding for those programs.
Helena – Jason’s traveling road show stopped at another new program – Christine Miller-Fitzpatrick opens Larch Early Childhood Care in Helena in early August. This new group program is licensed for 15 students. Christine is another participant in MCCBC’s mentorship-accelerator and a user of our LivePlan business and financial planning software.
We are excited to announce the Montana Child Care Business Connect Fall Summit, Sept. 13-14, 2023, at the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort in Anaconda.
The summit will be the first-of-its-kind annual gathering of child care providers, entrepreneurs, community leaders and industry professionals in Montana, offering a unique opportunity to share best business practices, learn new skills and resources, and network with like-minded partners.
CLICK HERE to view the full agenda.
PARTICIPANTS: Register here
EXHIBITORS: Sign up here!
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