Building Child Care
Project Overview

The Building Child Care (BCC) Project provides a centralized clearinghouse of information and services to increase the California child care sector's understanding of the facilities development process and access to facility development resources.

Who are we?

Funded by the California Department of Education, Child Development Division, BCC is a collaboration of four organizations:

• Insight Center for Community Economic Development
• The California Child Care Resource and Referral Network
• The Children's Collabrium (formerly CDPI Education Fund)
• The Low Income Investment Fund

Who do we serve?

• Child care center and family child care home providers throughout the state who are either involved in or interested in doing a facilities development project

• Technical assistance providers such as Resource and Referral Agencies, Regional Resource Centers, Local Planning Councils, Small Business Development Centers, and professional consultants (e.g. architects, contractors, designers, and project managers), and

• Financial resource agencies that fund child care facility projects in California

What do we do?

1. Identify resources that currently exist to help child care providers in developing and financing facilities, including:

a) Local and regional technical assistance resources
b) Financial resources in the form of loans and grants
c) Publications and other materials that financial resource agencies and the child care field can turn to for information about facilities development and financing.

2. Improve access to existing resources by:

   a) Training local and regional technical assistance providers about how to help child care providers with facilities development and financing in their communities;
   b) Providing direct assistance and referrals to child care providers through our toll free phone (888-411-3535);
   c) Providing information for providers, TA organizations, financial resource agencies, and others in the field through an interactive project website,
   d) Training child care providers to help them become better educated about how to successfully finance and develop facilities; and
   e) Compiling and distributing information about publications and other educational materials that financial resource agencies and the child care field can turn to for help.

3. Expand resources and work to break down barriers in the field by:

a) Identifying gaps in existing publication resources and filling them accordingly. Examples include: Potential Grant Resources List, Child Care Facilities Development Checklists, Considerations for Child Care Providers Partnering with Housing Developers, Family Child Care Case Study, and A Guide to Home Ownership for Family Child care Providers
b) Holding focus groups in targeted communities to gather information about statewide barriers in the field, and developing strategic responses based on this information
c) Educating grant and loan makers about funding strategies to encourage them to make financial resources available to child care providers
d) Ensuring that existing, identified resources are maintained and utilized successfully in order to drive the demand for expanded resources