Eligibility for OEC-LISC grantees will be assessed individually. Please email childcaregrants@ctwbdc.org with the details of your project to confirm your eligibility.
WBDC is pleased to offer grants of up to $25,000 to qualified start-up child care businesses
Are you almost a Connecticut licensed child care provider with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC), or have you recently become licensed with OEC? Are you in need of funding to help cover some of your start-up operating costs? Then this WBDC Start-Up Grant may be right for you!
We will be offering one-time cash grants of up to $5,000 for family home providers, up to $10,000 for group homes and up to $25,000 for centers to help individuals in financial need become licensed and operating child care providers with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC). This grant program is designed to support aspiring, unlicensed, and newly licensed child care providers in need of financial assistance to cover start-up operating expenses. It is open to those in process of becoming a licensed and operating family home (DCFH), group home (DCGH), or child care center (DCCC), and those operating as a family home, group home, or center with enrolled children for less than one year.
Make sure to read the Eligibility section below before beginning the process to apply. We also encourage you to attend an Information Session (scroll down for link).
The deadline to apply is March 3rd, 11:59 PM.
This is a competitive process and the WBDC will not be able to fund all strong applicants.
*** APPLICATION PERIOD IS NOW CLOSED ***
Application status updates are sent via email.
If you are ineligible or otherwise need funding for your business, contact us at (203) 353-1750 x129 (English) or (203) 353-1750 x113 (Spanish) or childcarebusiness@ctwbdc.org to explore alternate funding opportunities.
Join us for a Grant Information Session to learn about what the grant can be used for, eligibility requirements, and what information we’re looking for in the application. If you have attended a Grant Information Session in the past year, the information will be similar.
Monday, Feb 3 | 6:00 PM – 7:15 PM (English)
Wednesday, Feb 12 | 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM (English) – Watch Recording
Martes, Febrero 4 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM (Spanish)
Lunes, Febrero 10 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM (Spanish) Watch Recording
Applied in the past? We encourage past applicants who are familiar with our grants to skip the Information Session. Instead, book an advising appointment to discuss your grant project and work on your application. We invite you to also join the Grant Prep Sessions most relevant to you.
Once you’ve attended a Grant Information Session, we encourage you to take advantage of the multiple sessions to help you complete your grant application. Live sessions have now passed, but recordings are available!
Join us as we do a live demo of the grant application portal. Get tips on how to use the portal effectively, from uploading documents, saving your progress, to printing your app. Learn how to complete the WBDC use of funds template and upload your supporting documents.
Friday, Feb 7 | 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM (English) – Watch Recording
Viernes, Febrero 7 | 12:30 PM – 1:30 AM (Spanish) Registrate aquí
We will walk you through gathering your financials and filling out the WBDC financial templates for your Profit & Loss Statement, Balance Sheet, and Projections.
Tuesday, Feb 11 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM | Financial Statements & Projections (English) – Watch Recording
Miércoles, Febrero 12 | 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM | Solo Estados Financieros (Spanish) Watch Recording
Sábado, Febrero 15 | 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Solo | Proyecciones (Spanish)
This session will help you calculate your time-space percentage is an essential part of managing your family childcare home. Join Tanya Kelley as she reviews why this percentage is important and how to calculate it.
Watch Recording in English (40 minutes)
Watch Recording in Spanish (coming soon)
Eligibility for OEC-LISC grantees will be assessed individually. Please email childcaregrants@ctwbdc.org with the details of your project to confirm your eligibility.
* If the project will enable your program to operate as a full-time, full-year program, your application will be considered eligible.
*For purposes of the WBDC’s Child Care Business Opportunity Fund grants, the definitions of full-time and part-time are as follows:
If there are more qualified applications than we can fund this round, priority will be given to the following programs:
Applicants that have become licensed within the past few months may receive their grant awards (if selected) in two parts – often 50% up front and 50% after certain business milestones are achieved. This is to help set you up for success in managing your new business and managing grant funds. WBDC Advisors are available to help you achieve the business milestones and guide your start-up business practices.
Not the right grant for you? See our other Child Care Business Grant programs.
Before you begin your application, you will be required to create a profile in WBDC’s eCenter portal to provide general information about you and your business.
If you are an existing WBDC client that has used eCenter before to register for classes, you will need to review and update your eCenter Profile by logging into eCenter, and clicking “My Information” on the left.
If you are an existing WBDC client that has not used eCenter before, click the link below to get to our eCenter. Then click “Forgot Password” in the top right corner. Enter your email and follow the on-screen prompts to access to your profile. Once logged in, click “My Information” on the left to complete or update your information.
Here are the components of the application:
Profile, Contact, and Eligibility
Section A: Background about Your Business
Section B: Use of Grant Funds
Section C: Narrative of Your Business
Section D: Supporting Documents for Uploading
Section E: Compliance and Consent
What we’re looking for in an application:
Use the resources around you.
WBDC is here to help you throughout the application process – review this grant webpage in detail, attend the grant prep sessions, and meet with us if you need help. Ask those that know your business, like resource partners (e.g. SFCCN, AQIS, Ed Consultant) and your advisory circle (e.g., loved ones, assistant director), to be a sounding board for your grant project idea and to read your application narrative to provide feedback.
Get started as soon as possible.
Waiting till the last weeks the application is open to get started may not give you enough time to receive assistance and put your best foot forward with your application.
WBDC Business Advisors are available to help answer your questions after you have attended a live or on-demand information session. Appointments available in English or Spanish during standard business hours, evenings, and Saturday mornings if needed. If you need an appointment in a different language, accommodations may be possible.
REQUEST AN APPOINTMENT HERE
In addition to our regular advising hours, we are holding bonus office hours for eligible providers actively working on their applications. You will receive an invite. Save the date!
**Invitations will be sent to those actively working on their application. (English & Spanish)**
Download the Proposed Use of Funds’ Tracker below and fill in to indicate your proposed use of funds with the contractor/vendor, and cost of each item. This will serve as a cover sheet for your back-up use of funds documentation.
Use of Funds Tracker (English/Spanish):
Click here to copy the se of funds tracker in Google Sheets / Download to Microsoft Excel Here
We have optional templates for you to use for your historical and projected financial documents.
If you are a family home (DCFH), a Balance Sheet is not required. If you utilize QuickBooks or another digital system, you should use financial statements from there, instead of the WBDC templates.
Historical Financials Template (English/Spanish):
Copy Here in Google Sheets / Download to Microsoft Excel Here
Financial Projections Template (English/Spanish) – complete for 1 year only:
Copy Here in Google Sheets / Download to Microsoft Excel Here
Start early on this! You may have to receive a pin by mail to activate your myconneCT account before getting your letter. This letter will show if your state taxes are paid or not.
Please request your letter from the CT DRS myconneCT online center at no cost: 𝗺𝘆𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗖𝗧 (ct.gov)
Here is a tutorial to on how to request the status letter: Requesting a Status Letter (of Good Standing) (ct.gov) . If you are a sole proprietor and file your personal taxes jointly, the letter may be in your spouse’s name. If you did not operate your business in the last tax year, this Status Letter could be for your personal taxes.
Click here to see an example of what your status letter should like. Please note that if it does not look like this – it is the wrong document. This letter of good standing is not the same as a Certificate of Legal Existence.
These grants are made possible through the generous financial support of the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC).
