Effective Support for Home-based Child Care:
A compendium of programs and tools for home-based child care networks
The compendium is here to help networks find & partner with exactly the programs and tools their provider members need.
About the compendium
This resource is a project of Home Grown and Promise Venture Studio created through an open call to the early childhood field.
What can I find in the compendium: You’ll find a directory of dozens of programs and tools that support home-based child care providers and can be delivered through home-based child care networks. The compendium is searchable, making it easy to find partners with the experience and skills that you need. Each entry includes contact information, and we encourage you to reach out to potential partners to learn more.
What are the qualifications of the featured programs and tools: There are two criteria for featured organizations:
They must offer a product or tool to support home-based child care providers or the children and families they serve.
They must partner or seek to partner with home-based child care networks across the country as a way to deliver their service.
Individual networks and other local-only organizations are not featured in the compendium.
Who created the compendium: Home Grown is a collaborative of philanthropic funders who support home-based child care. Promise Venture Studio is a nonprofit that supports innovation for scaled impact in early childhood development.
How did you find the featured organizations: We shared an open request for information in Spring 2021. If you have a program or tool that would like to be featured and you missed this opportunity, please email us.
Questions? Email us. We’d love to hear from you.
About Home-based Child Care Networks
We built this compendium specifically for networks, because we see them as essential infrastructure for home-based child care.
What are networks: Networks are staffed organizations that help providers access the resources they need to support child development, to operate sustainable businesses, and to connect families to the resources they need.
Why networks: Too often, early childhood systems fail to reach providers with relevant, timely resources and support. Networks fill this gap, creating connective tissue that joins individual home-based providers to each other and to system infrastructure, including funding and policy. By bundling, coordinating and delivering effective programs and tools, networks help make high quality HBCC accessible and affordable to all families who choose it, and they make the work of providing HBCC more sustainable.
Who is involved: Networks may support licensed and unlicensed family child care providers, as well as family, friend and neighbor caregivers. In addition to provider members, networks include: hub organizations that coordinate service delivery; public and private funders; and programs and services - many of which are featured in the compendium
What are programs and tools: Tools are the mechanisms and processes that make the network work by connecting providers to each other and to the hub. Tools enable seamless communication, data collection and more. Programs are at the heart of networks’ impact, directly helping providers achieve quality, sustainability and comprehensive services.
Why programs and tools: By delivering effective programs and tools to providers, networks can improve outcomes for families and providers in three areas: quality, business & sustainability, and comprehensive services. Networks may not launch with services in all three areas, but over time comprehensive networks include all three service areas:
Quality support - programs that enable providers to deliver high quality early learning and developmental experiences that contribute to childrens’ lifelong thriving. Examples include curricula, professional development, assessment.
Business and sustainability support - programs that enable providers to build sustainable businesses and/or income, deliver stable early care and education to their communities and (if they choose) expand to serve more children and families. Examples include child management software, specialized loan programs and more.
Comprehensive services - programs that enable the provider to support whole children and whole families through referrals and other supports. Examples include health, mental health, disability supports, and more.