Arizona Child Care Infrastructure Grant: An Analysis of Grant Process and Impacts
Overview
A new report outlines how 478 child care businesses in Arizona were awarded nearly $60 million in federal funding to improve 511 facilities for children, staff, and families. Through the Arizona Child Care Infrastructure Grant, child care providers made much-needed improvements to increase the quality, capacity, and safety of their spaces, ensuring Arizona’s youngest children receive quality early education, more families have access to child care, and the child care workforce has a welcoming space to care for children.
The Arizona Child Care Infrastructure Grant program was a true collaboration. With funding from the Arizona Department of Economy Security (ADES), Division of Child Care (DCC) through time-limited child care funding appropriated in the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, DCC and First Things First (FTF) allocated $65 million to launch and fund the grants. Local, Arizona-based technical assistance partners, including Candelen, Child & Family Resources, Easterseals Blake Foundation, Southwest Human Development, and United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, provided guidance, coaching, and business training on how best to use the grant funds. They continue to offer resources to providers today. LISC Phoenix managed the program, offering hands-on support to help providers navigate a complex federal grant process, coordinating partners, and administering the funds.
Many things went well and LISC Phoenix learned important lessons along the way to improve the process for future grantees and programs. Strategic partnerships and thoughtful assistance to providers were critical to the program’s success. As federal child care COVID-19 relief funding expires and the nation faces continued gaps in access to child care that were present pre-pandemic, finding sustainable funding sources for the child care industry has never been more important. The Arizona Child Care Infrastructure Grant program is a framework for how private and public sector partners can deploy funding quickly, effectively, and most importantly, equitably, to child care providers at scale.
