The pandemic exposed to the nation what early childhood stakeholders already knew: child care sits at the nexus of racial, gender, and economic injustice.
The Raising Child Care Fund (RCCF), a project of the Early Childhood Funders collaborative (ECFC), was launched in 2018 by foundations interested in how grassroots leadership would contribute to efforts to build the child care system American children and families deserve. In 2019, RCCF provided grassroots organizations in 9 states with resources to build capacity to be effective voices for equitable child care. In 2020, RCCF awarded three additional grants, and now funds 12 grassroots organizations in 12 states.
This new report from the Raising Child Care Fund highlights how the first RCCF grantee cohort pivoted in their first year of funding to face the immediate challenges of COVID-19: adopting online organizing strategies, connecting their members to relief, resources, creating opportunities to talk to elected officials, and identifying policy changes and programs to address the impact of the pandemic.
The report also introduces the 2020 grantee cohort and their efforts to respond to immediate and ongoing needs of their communities during the pandemic, while building a powerful base of parents, early educators, and other stakeholders to transform child care at the local, state, and federal levels.