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JULY 2024
Not only are we celebrating five years as an organization in 2024, but Zero to Five Montana is happy to announce our official status as a standalone 501(c)(3) organization.
As part of the original Zero to Five network seed-funded by the Headwaters Foundation (thank you Headwaters!) Zero to Five Montana was established to serve as a statewide early childhood advocacy organization.
While we have evolved and grown over the past five years, our mission to advance policies and programs to help give Montana kids a great start in life remains. From legislative policy and advocacy to our programmatic work with initiatives like Montana Child Care Business Connect, Zero to Five Montana strives to stabilize, innovate and build our early childhood system so families and communities thrive.
An increasingly impactful area of our work was funded through an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Child Care Supplemental Grant awarded by the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services: the Montana Child Care Business Connect program (MCCBC) launched in June 2022 to address Montana’s shortage of high quality affordable child care.
Since launching in 2022, MCCBC :
- Assisted entrepreneurs in opening 18 new ECE businesses in Montana
- Supported the creation of 442 new licensed care spots
- Supported community capacity building in 14 communities through focused cohorts in developing child care infrastructure strategies to expand local child care access
- Paired 8 experienced small business leaders with 8 new or expanding child care businesses for a one-year business accelerator mentorship serving as a hybrid business incubator and professional development program
- Provided individual business consultation to 116 clients and received 225 technical assistance inquiries from across the state.
Through this work, $6.4M of non-grant equity and debt was invested in these companies, creating 127 new jobs.
Stay tuned for news surrounding our "community conversations" public policy outreach this summer and our goals for the fast-approaching 2025 legislative session.
In the meantime, stay connected!
- Sign up for our newsletter at bit.ly/ztf-news
- Partner with us! Reach out to info@zerotofive.org
- Register (for free!) for the 2024 Montana Child Care Business Connect Summit at childcarebusinessconnect.com/summit
- Sign up for our advocacy mailing list at bit.ly/ztfmt-advocacy
Here’s to making progress for Montana’s young children, families and communities over the next five years and beyond!
Thank you so much for your continued support!
Registration is Open for our 2024 Summit!
This annual event serves as a powerful platform for child care providers, community leaders, and early childhood education experts to come together and forge connections that strengthen our child care industry.
Join us this year August 7-8, 2024, at the Delta Hotel in Helena! Click the link below to view the agenda, check out lodging information and to register for FREE for this exciting event! We hope to see you there!
There's something for everyone at this year's summit! We're focusing on workforce: How to hire and keep child care workers, how child care, or the lack of, effects communities and how the state economy is affected when parents are out of the workforce due to lack of child care. Check out the Summit's agenda today to see which track interests you!
EDUCATION & EVENTS
Recorded Webinars Available
Missed a Tiny Training webinar? Subscribe to our YouTube channel to access past recordings. Or, visit childcarebusinessconnect.com.
MCCBC is now offering courses through www.ChildCareTraining.org!
Watch for more over the next few months!
Small Business Resiliency Course
Don’t let burn-out be the reason you close your business! In some studies, 67% of child care business owners report experiencing some sort of “burn out” as a contributing factor to why they close their doors. Less than 20% of child care businesses that closed their doors reported having any kind of resiliency training or support. It is the goal of this workshop to provide you with four skills that have been proven successful in combatting burn out.
This course can be taken at any time and is free of charge. Two hours ECP credit is available.
In the News
- A national security issue: Child care increasingly an issue for military families (Early Learning Nation)
- Evidence shows that home visits support children & families (EdSurge)
- For small businesses, a lack of affordable childcare stifles growth (Inc.)
- Preschool not only preps children for K-12, but raises future earnings, study finds (Marketplace)
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