First Children’s Finance (FCF) has long recognized child care providers as crucial community assets and critical small businesses and non-profit organizations. In this unprecedented crisis, FCF recognizes that state governments have the opportunity to preserve and support child care businesses at this time, preventing the permanent closure of these critical small businesses and therefore, worsening the child care crises in communities. The purpose of this resource guide is to provide guidance on the resources and recommendations available to help states preserve their existing child care businesses in this emergency. This resource is updated regularly, as the situations and solutions evolve throughout this pandemic.
FCF recommends that state governments begin preparing for rebuilding the child care industry in their states as the economy potentially collapses on a local, state, and national level. Long-term, permanent shifts will be required to the entire state child care business ecosystem to sustain providers’ businesses and the state’s ability to facilitate safe, high quality early childhood care and education.