The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) and Texas Mutual came together to support AVANCE Inc. (AVANCE), a Texas-based non-profit that specializes in supporting home child care providers (also called family child care providers), by providing funding to establish a Shared Services Alliance for home child care providers across the state of Texas. AVANCE will use the funds to build a network to share resources that will enable home child care providers in Texas to operate more efficiently and establish systems that strengthen high quality early care and education.
According to the Center for American Progress, costs for home child care providers in Texas have increased by 61% since the pandemic (CAP, True Cost of Providing Child Care). Rising costs added to the problems of an already declining child care workforce and the pandemic further exacerbated the inequities and challenges that child care providers faced. What makes the shared services initiative so critical is that child care homes are the primary source of care for infants and are often more affordable for families, particularly for infant care. These providers, the majority of whom are women of color, are often left behind with less access to many business and pedagogical support networks.
Over the past several years, AVANCE has responded to the growing needs of home child care providers by providing culturally responsive training, mentoring, and coaching. With the support of the Texas Workforce Commission and local workforce boards, we have established networks of child care homes in various cities across the state.
The total cost of the project is $1,574,701, with 95% ($1,499,701) of the project funded through federal dollars and the remaining 5% (75,000) from local philanthropy. With this new funding, AVANCE will further develop supports for home child care providers by building a Shared Services Alliance that will provide: pooled business services, pedagogical support, program planning support, and local coaching with access to centralized services, tech literacy and ongoing coaching. The goal of the alliance is to remove administrative barriers and increase the stability, profitability, and quality of child care homes. AVANCE worked alongside home child care providers to design the Shared Services Alliance to ensure that it meets their needs.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to build relationships of trust and leverage them to support home child care providers across the state,” said Dr. Teresa Granillo, AVANCE CEO. “We meet providers where they are, build on their strengths, honor their experience and voices, and take the time to understand their unique needs. These efforts are so critical because in addition to improving quality, they increase the economic mobility opportunities for not just providers, but also parents by giving them more options for proximal, affordable, and high-quality child care.”