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Child Care Business Opportunity Fund

Child Care Business Opportunity Fund

The Women’s Business Development Council is pleased to offer grants of up to $25,000 to qualified child care businesses

WBDC Child Care Business Opportunity Fund


The Women’s Business Development Council is pleased to offer grants of up to $25,000 to qualified child care businesses in Connecticut.

 

WBDC, in partnership with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC), is offering grants of up to $25,000 to qualified child care businesses in Connecticut through its Child Care Business Opportunity Fund.  Designed to help licensed and aspiring child care businesses grow, the Opportunity Fund has grant programs targeting different stages of business, from start-ups to those ready to expand.

Current Grant Programs to Meet a Variety of Needs

Click on the green boxes below to learn more about each grant program.

Grant application portal, and no-cost grant application support, is available in English & Spanish.

El portal de solicitud de subvención y el soporte de solicitud de subvención sin costo están disponibles en inglés y español.

• Up to $5,000 for family homes, $10,000 for group homes, and $25,000 for centers for start-up operating expenses
• Open to aspiring & licensed child care providers open for less than 1 year
Applications closed
• Up to $25,000 to ​create slots, maximize enrollment, and/or create new revenue streams
• Open to licensed providers operating with enrolled children for 2+ years
Applications closed
Up to $15,000 for urgent facilities projects to remain open & safe
• Open to licensed providers operating with enrolled children for 6+ months
Pre-screen applications accepted until April 30 or until funds exhausted

 

Ready to learn more about how you can apply?
Sign up for an info session and click through these boxes to make sure you have all the information you need to make your application strong!  Additional details can be found on each of the grant pages (green boxes above).

Eligibility

Eligibility for each grant program can be found on the grant webpage (see green boxes near the top of this page).

The following businesses are NOT eligible for the WBDC Child Care Business Opportunity Fund.

  1. Businesses that received a WBDC Child Care Business Start-up Grant, Emergency Facilities Grant, or Expansion Grant in the previous grant round or in the last 6 months.
  2. Municipally run child care programs, license-exempt programs, licensed youth camps, are not eligible for WBDC grants due to limited funding and alternate opportunities.
  3. 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.)
  4. Businesses outside the child care industry and based in Connecticut may be eligible for other WBDC grant programs.  Visit our Funding page to learn more, and get going with WBDC through a class or an appointment with a Business Advisor.

Information Session

One-hour informational webinars will be held in February to enable applicants to prepare their applications.  Sign up for the webinar that best meets your schedule using the links below. The content will be the same for all sessions. You only need to attend one session, though you are welcome to attend as many as you would like. 

Recorded Information Sessions

Child Care Business Grants Overview (ENGLISH)

Child Care Business Grants Overview (Spanish)

Grant Prep Financials Session

This session is open to those that have attended a Grant Information Session, or applied for a WBDC child care cash grant in 2023.

This session will help you prepare some of the key documents needed for your grant application — your historical & current financial statements, as well as your financial projections.  This session will walk you through gathering your financials and filling out the WBDC financial templates (or your own!).

(English Recording) Tuesday, Feb 20 from 1:00 PM – 2:15 PM

(Spanish Recording) Saturday, Feb 24 from 8:30 AM – 10:00 AM

Business Advising

Business advising is an important part of our grant application process. We encourage applicants to create a profile on our grant portal and look over the application questions. If you have any issues, we encourage you to reach out.

Our team can guide you on eligibility requirements and selecting the right grant program for you.  You can also meet with a WBDC Business Advisor to assist you with your application once you’ve started it.  Appointments are available at no-cost in English and Spanish.  Support in other languages may be possible – reach out to us.

Fill out this form to request an appointment.

Additional Information

For the Start-up and Expansion Grant Programs, grant awards are not made on a first come, first served basis.  All eligible applications are considered once the application period closes.  Funds are set aside on an ongoing basis for Emergency Facilities Grant recipients.

This is a competitive process and WBDC may not be able to fund all applicants.  You must be licensed, or pending licensure, with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC) in order to be eligible.

We do not recommend you pay anyone to complete your grant application for you as there is no guarantee you will be funded. Additionally, WBDC offers classes & advising at no cost to help you apply, if you meet the eligibility criteria to apply.

 

Multiple Award Policies

If you have multiple OEC licenses, you may submit an application for each location/license number.  However, the following policies apply for multiple awards:

  1. Full-time programs can receive up to 2 grants per year, but not in subsequent cycles, in addition to the Business Incentive Program.
  2. Part-time programs can receive 1 grant per year, in addition to the Business Incentive Program.
  3. Child care owners that have multiple OEC licenses can receive grants, following the above policies, for no more than 3 sites in a year.

Our Impact

WBDC has distributed over $6.65 million across Connecticut, through 603 Child Care Business Grant awards to licensed family homes, group homes, and child care centers.  These grants have supported the creation or maintenance of 2,780 jobs and 10,180 slots.

These grants are made possible through the generous financial support of the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC).