PFCCAG Awarded a DECAL Community Transformation Grant!

Press Release ATLANTA, GA., (February 14, 2023) – Professional Family Child Care Alliance of Georgia (PFCCAG) is the recipient of a $125,000 Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) Community Transformation Grant to expand its Explore - Family Child Care project. DECAL awarded Community Transformation Grants to 18 community collaboratives for initiatives targeting the critical needs of children in the birth-to-8 age group and their families. Funding for the 2023-2024 Community Transformation Grants was made possible through the Federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act. Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) received COVID-19 relief funding that can be used to support child care providers, families with young children, and the state’s early care and education (ECE) workforce while also adding resources to support the state’s ECE infrastructure, raising child care quality, and increasing access to care. The grant will fund PFCCAG to establish at least eight (8) family child care learning homes each in Bibb, Clarke, and Hall counties.

The supply of Georgia licensed family child care learning homes dropped 431% from 5265 homes in 2010 to 1220 homes by September 2022. In efforts to rebuild the supply of licensed family child care homes, PFCCAG asserted that it was difficult and expensive to obtain a child care license. There was little or no coordinated sustained strategy to assist applicants to become licensed. To help remedy this deficiency, in 2020, PFCCAG established the Explore-Family Child Care project. The project is primarily funded through the United Way of Greater Atlanta. The Explore – Family Child Care project focuses in United Way of Greater Atlanta’s 13-county service area. Creating an intensive coaching model, experienced, former family child care providers piloted strategies to recruit applicants, assist them to obtain their licenses, and open for business. PFCCAG facilitators mapped steps to obtaining a license, developed a “Start Your Business” section on the PFCCAG website, developed detailed information about complying with zoning and other local requirements, and piloted the use of a small amount of start-up funds to support applicants and document business start-up costs.

Serving as the fiscal agent for Explore Family Child Care project, Georgia - 9to5, National Association of Working Women will partner with PFCCAG. Georgia - 9to5 “works to build a movement to achieve economic justice, by engaging directly affected women, particularly Black, indigenous, and women of color, to fight for better working and living conditions.” Georgia - 9to5 membership is largely made up of Black women, with concentrations in metro Atlanta, Albany, Macon, and Savannah. Since 2020, Georgia - 9to5 child care goals include training more parent and provider leaders, building strong coalitions and, advancing policy, budget, and administrative solutions so more families can access quality, affordable child care. Through constructive collaboration, the leadership of United Way of Northeast Georgia, United Way of Central Georgia, Quality Care for Children, and Macon’s Faith in Action Holiness Church signed letters of commitments to support PFCCAG’s Explore-Family Child Care project which interconnects services to help all Georgia’s children to thrive.

About PFCCAG: The Professional Family Child Care Alliance of Georgia’s, a non-profit, 501c3 organization established in 2011, mission is to create a solid foundation, so all Georgia’s children are nurtured and educated to become happy, healthy, and prepared to succeed. PFCCAG joins all stakeholders to enhance the professionalism of family child care providers and create an environment that allows the profession to thrive.