Child Care & Early Learning Facilities
The Connecticut Child Care Facilities and Renovation Fund is an early childhood renovation and construction grant project funded through federal ARPA dollars, and authorized during the 2022 Connecticut legislative session. The Office of Early Childhood is the state agency of cognizance.
The fund includes approximately 13 million dollars of funding to be used for construction, renovation, and quality improvement projects, with the goal of increasing early care capacity, especially infant/toddler, in childcare deserts, and areas of great need. This project is in response to the lack of capacity of early care and education availability in Connecticut, with an estimated shortage of up to 40,000 infant and toddler “slots.” Much of Connecticut is designated a childcare desert. Some areas have an overabundance of pre-school slots, but not enough infant and toddler capacity to meet the needs of families. Other areas have few options for any type of care.
The Facilities Fund project has three priorities:
To increase infant and toddler early care capacity in infant/toddler childcare deserts
To increase pre-school capacity in childcare deserts.
To increase quality environments, and to address the health and safety needs of young children including projects such as upgrading ventilation systems, heating and cooling systems, improving outdoor play spaces, and through the purchase of furniture, and/or equipment,
Grant funding will be directed to projects that are in hard to serve areas of the state reaching economically vulnerable populations. A landscape analysis and the CT Social Vulnerability Scale will be used to inform the application process and help to prioritize programs.
