Child Care Solutions
About the Child Care Solutions Pilot Program
The Initiative Foundation is pleased to announce a partnership with the Minnesota Department of Human Services and First Children’s Finance to help surface innovative solutions to the shortage of quality, affordable child care in Central Minnesota.
First Children’s Finance estimates that more than 17,000 Central Minnesota children and their families lack child care opportunities, which inhibits development and school readiness. Equally important, said Don Hickman, vice president for community and workforce development at the Initiative Foundation, “is that many families are disengaged from the workforce because they can’t find quality, affordable care at a time when most employers in the region are urgently looking for skilled workers.”
Through $150,000 in grant support from the Minnesota Department of Human Services and its emerging partnership with First Children’s Finance, the Initiative Foundation is launching a pilot program for up to four Central Minnesota communities that will focus on child care solutions:
- Guided by First Children’s Finance, each pilot community will explore their unique barriers to quality, affordable care and identify opportunities to create additional child care slots to narrow the gap.
- Upon completion of a strategic plan, each community will be awarded a challenge grant of $10,000 to implement their action plan.
“The goal of the challenge grant is to gain financial commitments from public and private sources so that effective solutions can be gained and sustained,” Hickman said. “Each matched contribution will be made available to help child care providers add quality slots in the host community.”
Potential uses include the exploration of alternative business models for child care delivery; succession planning and/or professional development to retain new or mid-career providers; or physical or programmatic investments that result in additional child care slots and/or improvements in quality.
IQ Magazine Resources
- Central Minnesota unites to solve workforce, housing, child care challenge
- Communities look for solutions to the region's acute child care shortage
Statewide Media
- St. Cloud Times: Minnesota's 'quiet crisis' in child care
- Detroit Lakes Online: New York Mills has unique solution to day care crisis
- Star Tribune: Legislature needs to find help for state's child care 'deserts'
- DHS: $1.5 Million Will Help Increase Availability of Quality Child Care
Resources
Early Childhood
Parent Aware Facts for Child Care Providers
Early Childhood Challenge Match Fact Sheet
Minnesota Early Childhood Initiative Fact Sheet
Moving to Mixed Delivery, Voluntary Preschool for Four-Year-Olds: An Approach
For Minnesota
Inside Out Connections Guide: How to Explain Jails and Prisons to Children
Early Childhood Dental
Initiative Foundation Early Childhood Dental Network Fact Sheet
Preschool Tooth Tips: Tips for preschool oral care
Pregnancy/Infancy Tooth Tips: oral care tips for pregnant women and infants
Baby Teeth: Bring your child to the dentist by age 1! Dentists have special tools to remove germs before it decays the teeth. It is their job to keep mouths happy and healthy.
Somali Spanish Hmong
Three good reasons to see the dentist by age 1
Somali Spanish Hmong
Expanded learning activities for “Throw Your Tooth on the Roof” book: Literacy, music and hands on activities to enhance the child’s learning experience while reading, "Throw your tooth on the roof book," by Selby Beeler.
Somali Spanish Hmong
Expanded learning activities for "The Tooth Book": Literacy, music and hands on activities to enhance the child’s learning experience while reading "The Tooth Book" by Doctor Seuss. Somali Spanish Hmong
Somali Spanish Hmong
Fun activities for the "Brush Your Teeth Please" book: Fun learning activities to aid your child in learning the concepts shared in this book.
Somali Spanish Hmong
Back to School- for school age children: Children with healthy mouths are ready to learn!
Somali Spanish Hmong
Back to School- for preschoolers: Children with healthy mouths are ready to learn!
Somali Spanish Hmong
Back to School- for infants and toddlers: Healthy mouths in young children is vital to their overall healthy development!
Somali Spanish Hmong
Helpful Links
Child Care Aware
Dental Health Theme Free Preschool Curriculum
Video: Healthy Teeth for Children- English
Video: Healthy Teeth for Children- Spanish
Video: Healthy Teeth for Children- Somali
Minnesota Oral Health Coalition
America’s Tooth Fairy
Oral Health America
Sip all Day, Get Decay
Children’s Dental Health Project
Colgate: Infants and Children’s Resources
From Minnesota Compass ...
Early Childhood Initiative
The Initiative Foundation believes that nurturing young children is the responsibility of parents and communities.
The Initiative Foundation advances this belief by providing support for community-based coalitions to develop a vision and a strategic plan that focuses on quality early childcare and education.
The Initiative Foundation in partnership with the Minnesota Early Childhood Initiative strives to ...
- Educate citizens about the first five years of rapid brain development that forms lifetime personalities, social skills and learning capacity.
- Promote parents and families as the primary and most important caregivers of young children and fosters the concept that nurturing and educating children should be embraced by entire communities.
- Help community coalitions create a shared vision and plan of action around the care and education of young children and their families.
- Provide training, financial and technical assistance and resource/referral services to implement quality community-based opportunities for young children.
- Connect with other early childhood-focused communities statewide.
- Promote and advance local, state and national public policy to support quality care and education for our youngest citizens.
- Create and promote "one voice" around the issue of early care and to speak for those who cannot.
To date, the initiative has developed 90 early childhood coalitions in 300 communities across Greater Minnesota. The Initiative Foundation supports 20 coalitions in Central Minnesota. Visit the grants page to learn how the Initiative Foundation could help you in your efforts to support healthy children, healthy families.
Promoting healthy social, emotional development
Statewide surveys reveal that an alarming number of Greater Minnesota children struggle with mental health issues and a striking lack of access to professional help.
These surveys paired with national studies prompted the six Minnesota Initiative Foundations to launch the Minnesota Thrive Initiative in 2007. The Minnesota Thrive Initiative goal is to build powerful community action teams that work to increase awareness, early intervention and prevention efforts among families, childcare providers and healthcare professionals.
In Central Minnesota, the Greater St. Cloud Area Thrive Coalition is working to ensure that all families have access to the information and resources they need. For more information, visit the Thrive website.
