Grants for Daycare - Grant Recipient - An Excerpt

Here is an excerpt from a woman who got a grant to help pay for some of her costs:

"I spoke with my financial aid counselor at the college and she told me about the “child care grant that is available through the school. I filled out the application for that with my childcare provider and received that grant at the beginning of October.

Unfortunately student aid and grants for childcare don't get into your account until after the semester starts, so I had to pay for books with a credit card and the first month of childcare out of pocket.

Because I wasn't sure if I'd get the childcare grant, I also applied for a student loan. I had to study a tutorial about the different types of student loans and take a quiz before I was able to apply for the loan. It was helpful because I learned which loans allow for payments to be deferred and which loans have interest that has to be payed on the loan. I also learned that I could pay the loan back right away without any penalty, which I planned to do if I received the childcare grant.

So, the process all-in-all is time consuming, and you have to be patient. You have to check in with your college and make sure that they have received your applications."

Grant Money Available For Single Mothers Who Want To Continue Their Education!

There is a non-profit organization that gives child-care scholarships to low-income single mothers who want to continue with their education.

Founded by a woman whose single mom never got a chance to go to college, she asks her potential scholarship winners "How are you going to support yourself and your child now that the baby's here?"

Although she discovered plenty of programs to help pay for classes she didn't find many that help fund child care for the single mother. "It's a major expense. A family with an infant in a child-care center typically is expected to pay $4,500 to $14,600 a year. For young mothers, many of whom are already dealing with a pile of guilt and shame to go with financial debt, getting help with child care may be just the thing they need to get them over the hump."

Through grants and fund-raising, her organization has supported about 500 single parents -- moms along with a few dads -- in 11 years. According to one recipient who gave birth to her daughter when she was only 14, "Before I got the scholarship, I wasn't even sure if I could go to college, because I couldn't live at home." Now after graduating from college the foundation has extended her scholarship through law school. Today she works as a lawyer who specializes in child-care law and other issues affecting low-income women.

More Stimulus Money For Daycare!

Another state has received additional funding - over $5 Million Dollars - to help low-income people help pay for child care! Those who are low-income may qualify for financial assistance from the state Department of Social Services to help pay for child care. Thousands of low-income parents in the state saw there child and daycare bills go down thanks to funding from the federal stimulus package.

For example one single mother's monthly child care bill decreased by $110! She will use that extra money to help pay other bills and to also help stimulate the economy by spending some of it in the local markets.

To qualify:

• a family of two must have a monthly household income of $2,429 or less
  
  
• a family of four, $3,675 or less

The funding is paid directly to the provider, and parents are responsible for a sliding co-payment, based on their income, which must be met before the subsidy is paid. In addition the funding will also provide two months of free day care for any qualified unemployed or dislocated workers in the state while they search for work!

According to one spokesperson, "There are growing numbers of families in this state who need help paying for child care while the parents look for jobs, and this program will be a tremendous help. This program will allow those families to breathe easier and focus on finding new employment."

These funding benefits are expected to last through September 2010.

Interested parents can contact any of the program's offices to verify eligibility and fill out applications. In one city, you can contact them by phone although the phone number is not a toll-free call.

This funding program also benefits the child care businesses themselves because it is they that receive the money! Says one daycare provider that provides 24-hour day care, "It means I can stay in business." Because of providing such a service the daycare provides has numerous clients with low-paying, shift-work jobs. Of the 24 children enrolled in her day care, 16 of them receive the subsidy, but she estimates 80 percent of her full-time clients are subsidized by the state.

Another part of this funding program will pay for one-time provider grants for equipment purchases and for training opportunities. The equipment grants range from $500 for registered day care homes to $4,000 for licensed day care centers. For example one daycare facility will apply for one of the $4,000 grants. Some of the things on their list are a train table and a double-sided art center. And as an added benefit, the grant money received will be spent locally to help stimulate the economy.

Between 30% and 40% of children at the daycare center receive child care assistance and many of the families have a co-payment of zero!

FREE Daycare Being Provided For Single Mothers!

Since 1993 this organization has been giving babies, toddlers, and pre-schoolers a stable start in life while helping their young mothers to start over. Says one single mother who is now engaged to be married, "....played a role in my life that no other entity could. It nurtures you. It makes sure you can stay on track to become an asset to the community." She is one of the success stories of this organization that has one of seven programs in four states that provide free child care so that low-income, single mothers can finish school. Typically, about half of them are in high school — girls as young as 13 or 14!

According to a spokesperson, "This program isn’t a handout; the free child care comes with strings. Moms have to make a commitment to attend school full time, earn passing grades, volunteer two hours a week at the organization, attend and participate in weekly parent meetings, and observe various house rules."

If the participant doesn’t hold up her end of the bargain, she’ll be asked to leave the program — making room for someone else who is in desperate need of a hand. There are many more single mothers waiting to get into our program right now.

"We try to offer stability and build responsibility. They have to learn to be a woman of their word, to be responsible, to give back. We help them become whole as a young woman and a better parent. They leave as adults. They’re beautiful inside and out."

Says one graduate of the program, while others judged her for becoming pregnant at an early age, the organization "embraced who I was and who my son was...They made me feel like a real person, not just someone they were putting through a system. It was a place to turn for help with anything." With the organization providing free child care for her, the woman graduated and went on to college on a full scholarship, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in education.

Says another, "I can tell you that without I probably wouldn’t be graduating with a master’s degree this year," she said, pointing to the difficulty of dealing alone with the twin stresses of motherhood and school. "It’s helpful to get through those hard times when there are other people around you in the same situation, and there are people telling you, ‘You can do this,’ when you feel as though you can’t."

Meanwhile, their kids are developing in a child-care program that’s earned a top, three-star rating. The ratings program grades child-care agencies on such factors as staff-to-child ratios, and staff education and familiarity with early learning standards.

Another mother who participated in the program says, "Anything that I need they have for me including diapers, clothing, and food, getting help with her homework, doing her laundry when her washer and dryer were broken, and finding comfort in discussions with the other moms. You think you’re the only one in a certain situation, but you’re not. Everybody is going through the same situation."

The program strives to create scholarship programs, counseling, and referrals to community agencies for problems the staff isn’t able to address. Among the payoffs: fewer unwanted pregnancies.

The organization operates on a budget of $460,000, money that comes from grants, contributions, fund-raisers, and the United Way. It receives no government funding, and stretches its dollars with the help of donations of food, diapers, cleaning supplies, and other items from the community.

Child Care Assistance Grants!

One state announces new child care assistance grants!

This new grant program has been brought to the state courtesy of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This increased federal funding will assist low-income families with child care and improve the quality of care and delivery of services.

According to a spokesperson, "These funds offer critical assistance to hardworking families with children, and contribute broadly to the Commonwealth. When parents can work and still send their children to a safe and enriching environment, and when child care programs have the opportunity to enhance their skills and services, our families, communities and economy are all made stronger.”

Approximately $18 million in funding will be used over the next two years to enhance and expand assistance to income-eligible families through the state’s child care subsidy program, which provides services for the children of working parents and parents currently receiving job training. The increased financial support from the funding will raise infant reimbursement rates to child care providers while expanding child care services for families in the child care subsidy and other related programs. Nearly 55,000 children are already benefiting from the subsidy program this year. This funding will also help reduce the match payment required of local departments of social services to assist with the delivery of child care subsidy services for needy families. Communities that have struggled in the past to make the matching contribution will be better able to meet the needs of families already in the subsidy program and can apply any savings to address the needs of families currently on waiting lists for services.

In addition, approximately $14 million of the grant will be used to create an automated system for administering and tracking payments to child care providers. When fully implemented, the automated system is projected to provide the area significant annual savings through improved efficiency and accuracy.

Grant Program For Single Mothers To Start A Business Of Their Own?

A great way for American single mothers who love children to become self employed while not missing a moment of those precious "growing up" years is acquiring single mothers business grants, and opening up a day care center. This concept is rapidly becoming an extremely favorable alternative to punching a clock to many single mothers who are tired of lost time with their children. Not to mention the fact that this type of business also helps to provide affordable quality child care for other single mothers who are still riding that time clock.

The government provides single mothers, and fathers, with an exorbitant amount of free government money in small business grants each and every year. While the genre of acceptable enterprises widely varies, a very popularly accepted business proposal by the US government is that of child day care services. There is such a lack of affordable quality childcare available to American citizens that the government is eager to help develop facilities with properly trained childcare specialists, in efforts to keep people working and out of the unemployment line.

Obtaining single mothers business grants to open a day care center is an amazing, and easily achievable way for single moms to do three of the uppermost important things in their life. First they are enabled to avail an advanced education in childcare while a single moms college grant funds their child development training to prepare her for caring for multiple children at once. Secondly, she becomes self employed, which offers the opportunity of personal freedom, feelings of pride and accomplishment. Third and most importantly, the ability to spend extended amounts of time with her children, without having to miss work or ever pay for child care services again.

The government smiles greatly upon single mothers small business grants for day care centers, ad with good reason. How could there be any argument over something that benefits all of us, especially the kids?

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Childcare Blog