The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is pleased to announce the Infrastructure Grant Program: New Construction and Major Renovation (IGP-NCMR) grant funding opportunity to support new construction and major renovation of child care facilities.
Donor Name: California Department of Social Services
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/31/2023
Size of the Grant: Up to $1,500,000
Details:
The California Department of Social Services has $150 million appropriated in grants for new construction and major renovation of child care programs. Funds shall be used to make extensive alterations, structural changes, and/or major renovation to existing child care facilities, and for construction to build new child care spaces. The grant must be used to increase licensed spaces by:
- Renovating or building out an existing facility by adding classrooms
- Constructing a brand-new center-based facility
- Replacing a facility lost due to a state or federally declared disaster
- Expanding Small Family Child Care Homes to Large Family Child Care Homes
The purpose of the CCDD-IGP is to preserve, enhance, and expand child care and development and preschool opportunities for children up to five years of age by providing grants to renovate, repair, modernize, retrofit, or build new licensed child care centers and family child care homes.
The CDSS recognizes that developmentally appropriate environments for playing and exploring are critical to contributing to a child’s cognitive and physical development. However, many families and children in California do not have access to nurturing early learning environments due to a lack of child care facilities in their neighborhood. This issue is especially true for divested communities. The need for child care has been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is important to mitigate closures, stabilize child care, and increase the supply of quality child care programs through a diverse delivery system.
Funding Information
Awards will be capped based on program type:
- Child Care and Development Centers Up to $1,500,000
- Family Child Care Homes Up to $100,000
Eligible Projects
WIC section 10310.1(b)(2) establishes the eligible purposes for the CCDD-IGP program generally. For the IGP-NCMR, eligible construction and renovation projects only include new construction and major renovations to increase capacity, as follows:
- Construction of new child care and development and preschool facilities to increase capacity or recover lost capacity as a result of a state or federally declared disaster.
- Renovation of existing child care and development and preschool facilities to increase capacity (enroll more children) or recover lost capacity (enroll the same or close to the same number of children from before the disaster) as a result of a state or federally declared disaster. Major renovations can also be to make existing child care and development and preschool facilities more resilient for future natural disasters.
If the Applicant meets one or more of the above requirements for their project, WIC section 10310.1(e) states that IGP-NCMR infrastructure grants may be used for any of the following activities:
- One-time infrastructure (construction) costs, including, but not limited to, universal design facility renovations, retrofitting to meet licensing requirements, the cost of design, engineering, testing, inspections, plan checking, construction management, evaluation and costs relating to the removal of hazardous substances at a new or existing site, demolition, construction, landscaping, or other related costs as determined by the department.
Eligibility Criteria
As identified in WIC sections 10310.1(b)(1)(A), eligible Applicants include child care and development and preschool providers that are not local educational agencies (LEAs), such as public school districts, higher education, county offices of education, or charter schools, and that are one or more of the following:
- A child care facility (both a child care center and a family child care home) serving children through an alternative payment program under WIC Chapter 3 (commencing with section 10225).
- A migrant child care and development program serving children under WIC Chapter 6 (starting with section 10235).
- A child care facility network serving children through a California state preschool program under Article 2 (commencing with section 8207) of Chapter 2 of Part 6 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code.
- A child care facility serving children through a general childcare and development program under WIC Chapter 7 (starting with section 10240).
- A family child care home education network serving children under WIC Chapter 8 (starting with section 10250).
- Child care and development services for children with special needs under WIC Chapter 9 (starting with section 10260).
- A child care facility serving children through a California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Stage 1, Stage 2, or Stage 3 program under WIC Chapter 21 (starting with section 10370).
- A child care facility serving children through the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program for Foster Children under WIC section 11461.6.
Additionally, 10310.1(b)(1)(A) requires that eligible Applicants include child care and development and preschool providers that are not LEAs and that meet two or more of the following:
- Have a demonstrated need for expanded access to subsidized child care and development and preschool programs.
- Are located in communities with low incomes as measured by the proportion of children that qualify for state or federal subsidies for child care and development and preschool programs.
- Plan to use grant funding to serve children that qualify for state or federal subsidies for child care and development and preschool programs.
- Serve children from birth to five years of age, inclusive, with exceptional needs in inclusive environments.
- Wish to recover lost capacity (enroll more children) as a result of a state or federally declared disaster
WIC section 10310.1(d) requires that the CDSS give priority for IGP-NCMR funding to both of the following:
- Applicants with a demonstrated need for expanded access to subsidized child care and development and preschool programs, as measured by the ratio of children in subsidized child care and development and preschool programs to eligible children in the Applicant’s service area; and
- Applicants who are currently caring for children in subsidized child care programs described in subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of WIC section 10310.1 and who are not eligible for federal funding for these purposes.
- Applicants may be non-profits, for-profit businesses, or Tribes. Faith-based organizations may also apply if the child care curriculum is not faith-based. LEAs, public/government agencies, school districts, and higher education colleges are not eligible for this funding.
For more information, visit New Construction and Major Renovation Grants.
