The Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) conducted key informant interviews with three large family child care (FCC) owners and four center directors located in Contra Costa, Kern, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and San Bernardino Counties. The purpose of these conversations was to gather stories of how programs made strategic use of state and federal funding throughout the pandemic to keep their programs open and staged, as well as children safe. Through these conversations program leaders highlighted that, while one time funding helped programs stay operational throughout the worst of the pandemic, these funds are no longer available, leaving these small businesses struggling to stay a oat and threatening the sustainability of a crucial industry.
“Providing child care is helpful to the economy. We are making money for the state and the country by allowing parents to go to work and be productive. I’m taking care of children, babies, humans. Not computers. We are building the community. I want policymakers to know that parents cannot work without early care education. By funding us we are helping the whole economy." -Khulood Jamil, Family Child Care Provider
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