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.

Watch Recording in English 
Watch Recording in Spanish 

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!

Application Walk-Thru

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.

Watch Recording in English 
Watch Recording in Spanish 

Preparing Your Financial Statements & Projections

We will walk you through gathering your financials and filling out the WBDC financial templates for your Profit & Loss Statement, Balance Sheet, and Projections.

Watch Recording in English 
Watch Recording in Spanish 

Preparing Your Use of Funds & Supporting Documents

This session will help you consider what relevant projects or expenses you may have for your business, how it will benefit your business, and how to turn that into your use of funds request & impact statement. We will also guide you on how to gather the backup documents to support your project idea.

Watch Recording in English 
Watch Recording in Spanish 

1. Be one of the following:
   (1) Close to becoming licensed by OEC as a full-time* family home, group home, or center with location approved by CT Department of Public Health
   (2) Operating as an CT Office of Early Childhood (OEC) licensed family home, group, or center full time*, with enrolled children for less than one year
2. Be pursuing a license or recently licensed as a provider with OEC for the first time
3. Have your initial OEC site inspection scheduled or completed
4. Be in good standing with the CT Department of Revenue Services (DRS), or on a payment plan for back-owed taxes
5. Have a financial need for support with start-up costs

*For purposes of the WBDC’s Child Care Business Opportunity Fund grants, the definitions of full-time and part-time are as follows:

• Full-time for centers (DCCC), group homes (DCGH) programs means that 75% or more of the classrooms in your program operate 30 hours or more per week.
• Full-time for family child care homes means that your program operates 30 hours or more per week.
• Part-time for centers (DCCC), group homes (DCGH) programs means that less than 75% of the classrooms in your program operate 30 hours or more per week.
• Part-time for family child care homes means that your program is open less than 30 hours per week.

Additionally, the following businesses are NOT eligible:

1. Prior recipients of a WBDC Start-up Grant.

2. If you already operate a licensed child care business, and are starting another one, you may be eligible for our Expansion Grant instead.

3. Municipally run child care programs, license-exempt programs, licensed youth camps, are not eligible for WBDC grants due to limited funding and alternate opportunities.

4. Child care businesses outside of Connecticut. Please contact your local SBA Resource Partner including our sister Women’s Business Centers around the U.S., to learn about funding opportunities in your area.

5. If your business is outside the child care industry and based in Connecticut, WBDC has other grant programs. We encourage you to schedule an appointment with a WBDC Business Advisor or participate in one of our classes to learn more.

If there are more qualified applications than we can fund this round, priority will be given to the following programs:

• Sites already approved by OEC, including those newly operating
• Located in an ECE underserved community, including those in a town with high SVI (=/> .6) and/or CAATI score =/> 5 (see list of towns here)
• Serve or will serve infants and toddlers
• Accept or plan to accept Care4Kids
• Are or soon plan to be state and/or federally funded (i.e., Care4Kids, School Readiness, Child Day Care Contract, State Head Start, Federal Head Start, and DCF)
• Are or plan to be a for-profit business
• Active WBDC advising client, receiving technical assistance beyond grants

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.