Grants and Opportunities or Lack Of

[Jo123ABC]

There are no great grants or opportunities for providers in my area. It drives me crazy! I can get "coaching" from child care aware ND but they make you sign a contract basically saying you'll do what they tell you. No thanks. The center in my small town has been given playground equipment, and $ from the local economic development center but in-home providers aren't offered any kind of opportunities. In May the edc office was looking into opening up no interest loans to existing providers (currently only offered to new providers) but they haven't done that yet either. Sigh.... Rant over

[Blackcat31]

I found this info for ND

Child Care Loans

https://www.business.nd.gov/development_fund/NDDFPrograms/ChildCareLoanProgram/

http://ndchildcare.org/projects/inclusion-grants.html

If you aren't familiar with ND's Bright and Early program (QRIS) I would take the time to read more about it. If it's anything like QRIS in my state (Parent Aware) then you can earn a really nice check ($1,000+) for EACH step you complete. It's soooooo much more than just "coaching" or 'telling you what to do'

Anyways, I am not super familiar with your state's QRIS program but if you are looking for grants or free money..... that's usually the best way to get it.

The money awarded to your local center that you mentioned was more than likely obtained via a grant request....grant writing itself can be a full time job but those that put the time and effort into it, usually see the rewards too.

We have a local HOME child care provider in my community that spends a lot of time writing and requesting grants from all kinds of local economical development centers and she has gotten several $1,000 doing so.

It's all in how much work you are willing to do for it.

[Jo123ABC]

Thanks! I've never written a grant before but maybe I should look into it. I'm going to apply for the bright and early. It looks like it might be worth it. I don't like the idea of "begging" for money. It's just the demand for childcare in my area is really high but so is the cost of living and most jobs don't actually pay all that great so raising rates is really hard on the families who need childcare.