Child Care & Early Learning

Across America, families struggle to find quality child care that meets their needs, especially in historically disinvested communities of color and rural areas. Equitable access to quality child care and early learning is essential to the wellbeing and economic stability of families, communities and the nation.   

At LISC, we are not attempting to fix every piece of the complex early care and education puzzle, but we are uniquely positioned to help place an essential piece of that puzzle: physical space and access to quality space, which are imperative to building a robust quality child care system. Currently, the lack of quality child care space is an insurmountable roadblock for too many providers.

In the fields of early childhood facility policy, financing, and practice, LISC has been an advocate, thought leader and resource for more than two decades. With boots on the ground in urban areas all across the nation, rural partnerships spanning 44 states, relationships with other CDFIs and an array of diverse national and local partners, LISC can deploy effective supports. Leveraging our national network of partners, we offer new models, partnerships and funding streams in order to connect providers to the right capital and resources, with an eye towards building more equitable access within the child care and early education system.   

Our impact  

LISC has filled an important gap in the early education and child care landscape by providing capital, thought leadership and technical resources centered on the physical environment. Over two decades, LISC has:  

CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institutions) such as LISC have historically supported the development of quality infrastructure in the form of facilities development and organizational capacity building. Our investment activities to date span technical assistance, grant-making and loan financing. We also promote systems-level change through our policy platform and thought leadership, stressing the importance of early childhood facilities for policymakers, funders, and the community development finance industry. 

Child Care & Early Learning Facilities Investments

LISC Investments by State (1995–June 2024). Includes Loans, Grants, Recoverable Grants, and NMTC equity investments.

*The Rhode Island and Arizona local office teams operate robust Public-Private partnerships that support dedicated staff to provide technical support to providers.

Stay connected

Stay in touch with our work and what's happening in the industry:

• Subscribe to the LISC National Child Care and Early Education mailing list.
• Contact our team with inquiries, ideas, stories, and more.
• Follow us on Twitter

LISC is also a member of National Children’s Facility Network (NCFN), a coalition of more than 30 nonprofit Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), financial and technical assistance intermediaries, and early care and education (ECE) stakeholders dedicated to helping ECE providers develop high-quality physical learning environments and sustainable business models. Learn more at www.ncfn.org.