Focus Area: Advocacy in Early Childhood

Grant Amount: $10,000

Based in St. Paul, serves statewide. Established in 1992 to raise the standards in care for children and childcare providers, Child Care Aware provides technical assistance to 14 childcare resource and referral agencies around Minnesota, collects data regarding the supply and demand for childcare, and creates and manages statewide projects. It has been integral in the piloting and expansion of Parent Aware, the state’s quality improvement framework for early care and education programs.

Grant supports advocacy efforts that support the goals of the Transforming Minnesota’s Early Childhood Workforce project, which primarily focuses on creating a qualified, supported, and equitably compensated early childhood work force that can support the economy and build future academic and life success for Minnesota’s youngest children. While other organizations are focused on improving access to high-quality care for families, TMECW is the only collaborative in Minnesota focused on the early childhood workforce itself.