• Providers are encouraged to apply to all available grants for which they are eligible. Many of the grants will function like “entitlement grants,” meaning that all eligible providers will receive funding through a formula based on licensed capacity and quality level without a competitive or need-based process.

• For these entitlement grants, such as the Child Care Operations Stabilization Grants and Workforce Sustainability Grants, eligible providers will still need to complete a brief application.

• There are also competitive grants, such as the Health and Mental Health Grants or the CIRCLE Grants, in which programs will have to demonstrate eligibility when they apply and, due to the competitive nature, may or may not receive funding. Information about eligibility will be published when the grants come available.

While there are no specific funding opportunities for providers with disabilities, all licensed child care providers and CCCAP qualified exempt providers in Colorado will be able to receive Child Care Operations Stabilization Grants, Workforce Sustainability Grants, and more. Please note, programs that serve children with special needs will qualify to receive bonus funds. If an organization is interested in creating an innovative support program or training program for providers with disabilities, a CIRCLE Grant might be an appropriate funding stream.

CCCAP Qualified Exempt providers are family, friends or neighbors (FFN) that a CCCAP family has specifically requested to care for their child and that have met all Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) health and safety requirements. More information on becoming a CCCAP qualified exempt provider can be found here, under Qualified Exempt Provider Requirements.

• No, federal stimulus funds cannot be used for new construction or major renovation projects. Minor facility maintenance or improvements may be allowed using Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) stimulus funds.

• The only funds approved for construction are from the State's General Fund, specifically the Emerging and Expanding Grant and the Employer-based Facility Child Care grant program.

The funding for all of these activities comes from four sources:

• The federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA)

• Colorado House Bill 20B-1002

• The federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act

• Colorado Senate Bill 21-236

Technical assistance will be available to all providers and programs applying for the various funding opportunities. For the Child Care Operations Stabilization Grants, Workforce Sustainability Grants, and CIRCLE Innovation Grants, the selected vendors for administering these grants will also provide technical assistance once the application(s) has opened. Family Child Care Home Navigators will be available at Early Childhood Councils in early 2022 to support licensed family child care home providers and those interested in becoming licensed family child care home providers to connect with resources. Additionally, the Office of Early Childhood will publish guidance documents in multiple languages for most strategies to help understand eligibility, application requirements and more.

Technical assistance will be available to all providers and programs applying for the various funding opportunities, with expertise to support the unique questions from Family Child Care Home providers. Additionally, the Family Child Care Home Navigator Program will fund each Early Childhood Council to hire a Family Child Care Navigator to help connect Family Child Care Home providers to support and resources, including those offered through these stimulus opportunities.

• These funds embed local outreach and reporting of provider slot availability, one piece of the Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) system, in each of the Early Childhood Councils.

• This project will include a technological enhancement to the Colorado Shines system so that providers or Early Childhood Councils can enter open slot information and it will display on the public-facing Colorado Shines provider search portal.

The function of regularly collecting open slot information and understanding providers’ unique capacities, such as to care for children with special needs, will be at the local Early Childhood Council level through this project. Early Childhood Council staff will then upload this information into the existing system to support Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) staff and parents searching for care through the online search portal. This new approach is being tested as the pandemic demonstrated that close working relationships, often easier to form at a more local level, are necessary to effectively gather open slot and provider information.

The child care supply data will be entered into the Colorado Shines data system to be viewed by Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) staff. Additionally, system enhancements will be made so that the public-facing Colorado Shines child care search portal can also display provider slot availability.

The roles will be limited to the duration of the stimulus funding period. However, part of the work will include an evaluation of the success of these roles to inform ongoing funding decisions.

The funding to reduce co-payments for CCCAP families will not increase the total amount that providers receive for providing care to a CCCAP child. Rather, the portion of the care that is paid by the CCCAP family will decrease and the portion of the care that is paid by the county will increase. Because the increased cost is experienced by the county, the funding to support this strategy is included in the county’s CCCAP allocation. CCCAP families benefiting from the new parent fee structure should have received notification of the decrease in parent fee from the County Department of Human Services effective August 1, 2021.

The reduced co-payments apply to all families who participate in CCCAP and in all care settings. The funding to reduce co-payments for CCCAP families will not increase the total amount that providers receive for providing care to a CCCAP child. Rather, the portion of the care that is paid by the CCCAP family will decrease and the portion of the care that is paid by the county will increase. Because the increased cost is experienced by the county, the funding to support this strategy is included in the county’s CCCAP allocation.