Childcare Expansion

Childcare is a top priority for Stanislaus 2030. A good childcare system both creates and enables jobs by supporting good jobs for those working in childcare, and enables parents to participate in work, education, job training, or other related activities. Yet, in Stanislaus County, access to childcare is a serious barrier, and in order to meet local workforce demand, we need 36,000 more childcare slots than we currently have. Complicating the matter, we know that the childcare sector is a market failure. According to a recent report from the U.S. Treasury, more than 60% of families can't afford the full cost of high quality day care, while the median wage for caregivers in California is only $10.06/hour.

Collaborative Partner

To address the childcare shortage, and specifically the need for licensed infant and toddler care, Stanislaus 2030 is excited to announce a partnership with Nurture to launch an In-Home Child Care Expansion Project focused on building the supply of home-based child care businesses.

Jennifer Brooks is Nurture’s Founder and CEO. She brings 25 years of experience in microenterprise, workforce development, financial security, asset-building, and child care, in a range of nonprofit and government settings and geographies. Jennifer is passionate about women’s economic self-determination and committed to equitably building and scaling practical solutions to make jobs in the care economy paths to financial security.

Nurture’s mission is to equitably design, build and scale practical solutions that turn work in the child care economy into a path to economic security. To address the shortage of licensed infant and toddler care and create better jobs for caregivers, Nurture is building the supply of home-based child care businesses.

Nurture’s business training, tools, services, and capital support entrepreneurs though the licensing, start-up, and expansion phases. Our tech-forward scalable approach combines self-paced digital content, group support, and one-on-one technical assistance to meet the needs of diverse child care entrepreneurs.

Nurture is a nonprofit with fiscal sponsorship by Mission Asset Fund, a Community Development Financial Institution with deep expertise in equitably delivering innovative tech-forward services.

In-Home Childcare Pilot

The Stanislaus 2030 In-Home Childcare Expansion Project, will launch in August 2023 and intends to lay the groundwork for a larger-scale investment by a range of stakeholders. and specifically will:

Pilot and evaluate Nurture’s Business Start-Up supports with 25-35 child care entrepreneurs, which includes $2,500 start-up grants for entrepreneurs that successfully complete the training process
Define and develop enhanced service-delivery linkages among local stakeholders to accelerate creation of new home-based child care businesses
Identify implementation funding sources to institutionalize business supports at scale
Develop a shared implementation plan, that includes a landscape analysis, employer engagement strategy, and sustainability plan

Pilot Details

Outreach Toolkit

Local Champions

Stanislaus 2030 has engaged a team of local partners to help recruit entrepreneurs, inform strategy and align resources to support the collaborative project, including:

Stanislaus County’s Children & Families Division

Stanislaus Workforce Development

First Five Stanislaus

West Modesto Collaborative

Central Valley Opportunity Center

Valley Sierra SBDC

North Valley Labor Federation

Stanislaus Cradle to Career Partnership

California Child Care Providers United

Parent Resource Center

Sierra Vista Child & Families Services

Center for Human Services

Choices for Children

If you are interested in learning more or joining our team of collaborative partners, please email Amanda at ahughes@stanislaus2030.com.