$2M available in grants for businesses offering child care
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HELENA – Working families, businesses, and children are all impacted when access to quality, affordable child care is limited – employer investments in benefits that support employees with young children has a positive impact on family economic stability, workplace productivity, and employer retention and recruitment.
Zero to Five Montana, in partnership with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Bright Futures Birth to Five program, is offering a one-time grant opportunity for Montana employers through the Family Forward Montana initiative to develop an employer-sponsored child care program. The goal of the program is to implement a child care strategy reflective of the goals of the employer that is sustainable and creates cost sharing between the employee, employer, and the State of Montana.
Grants will range from $10,000 to $100,000 depending on the size and scope of the employer’s project plan. Grant funding will total $2 million to be awarded in two cohorts over 2024 and 2025. Data collected from this pilot will help inform future public private partnerships.
This initiative aims to:
Build awareness of Montana’s growing child care needs and the critical role employers play in helping to address it.
Educate employers and community organizations on employer-supported child care models, including those that apply to individual employers, groups of employers and/or nonprofit community-based organizations acting on behalf of a group of employers.
Create and advance locally driven solutions that increase child care access and support working Montana families.
Interested employers can apply at https://familyforwardmt.org/grant. The deadline for applications is February 7 with final decisions and employer notification no later than February 28, 2025. There is a Lunch & Learn webinar scheduled for noon on January 17 where employers can get more information about the program and the application process. Interested parties can register online:
https://zerotofive-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/1E-OT_B6SFeRzh8h6AoOSw#/registration
According to a 2024 report by the Montana Department of Labor & Industry, 40% of Montana businesses say they are unable to find and retain a qualified work force due to a lack of child care, and 30% of businesses say inadequate child care has prevented their company from growing.
Affordable, accessible child care provides vital support for working families, employers and our state and national economies. The Zero to Five Montana Employer-Sponsored Grant program will improve community vitality, company productivity and the viability of our present and future labor force. This initiative is an investment in Montana’s future.
Montana child care facts:
Licensed child care capacity in Montana meets only 44% of the demand.
Child care shortages exist in every county, with 59% of counties identified as child care deserts – where supply meets less than one-third of demand.
In 2023, families were paying an average of 28 percent of their household income on child care –- $11,700 on average.
62 percent of Montana parents say they missed work due to a child care-related issue.
ABOUT FAMILY FORWARD MONTANA
Family Forward Montana, an initiative of Zero to Five Montana, is designed to inspire and support family-friendly practices in workplaces across the state. Zero to Five Montana is a nonpartisan, statewide early childhood organization focused on increasing access to early care and education, supporting and strengthening families, and supporting the start, stability, viability, and expansion of high-quality child care businesses in Montana. Learn more at www.zerotofive.org.
This program is funded under a contract with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, the statements herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the department. This publication was made possible by grant number 90TP0101. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official view of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration of Children and Families.
