How States Can Improve Child Care Facilities and Physical Spaces Using Federal Relief Dollars

With more than $50 billion in federal relief invested in the child care sector, along with additional resources for states and localities to respond to the pandemic, states have unprecedented opportunities to create a more equitable, sustainable, comprehensive early care and education system. While investments in the workforce are the most important driver of child care quality and supply, facilities are a key element of creating a high-quality child care experience in centers and family child care homes. However thin operating margins and decades of public underfunding have left many child care providers with limited resource to improve their facility infrastructure, a reality disproportionately and inequitably experienced by providers in communities of color. This article developed jointly by NAEYC, CLASP, EdCounsel, NAFCC and NCFN, profiles funding streams and offers strategies that states, territories and tribes can consider improving child care facilities and physical spaces.