Bulletin Board
Questions & Answers

What is the BCC Bulletin Board?

The BCC Bulletin Board is designed to be an interactive tool for child care providers, advocates, financial resource agencies, and others in the field who have questions and answers for each other.

How does it work?

If you have a question about child care facilities development and financing in California that you'd like to see answered please send it to bcc@insightcced.org, Subject: Bulletin Board Question. After screening your question internally, we'll either post it on the Bulletin Board, or reply to you directly.

If you have an answer to any of the questions posted on the Bulletin Board, please send them to bcc@insightcced.org Subject: Bulletin Board Answer, and we'll post it as soon as possible. Thanks for your help!

QUESTIONS/ANSWERS

To see a question posted or to provide an answer send an email to: bcc@insightcced.org

Question: I've just opened a child care center. I am located in an industrial buisness park, approx. 1800 employees. I've given them fliers and brochures, but have not had any responses. I am leasing a building that was previously occupied by another child care center, and from what I hear they left on bad terms with some parents. Any suggestions?

Answer 1:

Host an open house and send out invitations to the businesses in your area. Offer a tour of you facility with refreshments provided, maybe door prizes. You can also send out flyers to local schools, hospitals, and libraries.

Answer 2:

You should try talking with the company's HR directors to find out if they can help you get a sense of employee needs. Additionally, sometimes one parent is more involved in the search for child care than another so encourage people to take these flyers and materials home to review with their spouses. Instead of providing flyers that advertise your services directly you could start by advertising an open house or something less binding (but that highlights the fact that the program is under new leadership) so parents could come and explore to facility and not feel obliged to do an interview or anything more serious yet. One other issue that could be holding down your enrollment right now is the fact that it is summertime. Many families already have summer arrangements in place so they aren't looking for care right now, though they will be in August and September. Also, be sure to look beyond the business park community. There may be other families in the area who will also benefit from the program. Finally, it is important to remember that the most important way to grow the program's enrollment is through word of mouth so encourage any families already using your services to spread the word.

Question: I am looking for grants to fund a child care center for Native American families, can you recommend helpful resources?

Answer:

The resources listed below can be of help to you and your colleagues in the process of starting a tribal child care center.

1. Tribal Child Care Facilities: A Guide to Construction and Renovation (including a section on financial resources in the form of loans and grants) http://nccic.org/pubs/tribguid.html

2. A Guide to Market Rate Surveys for CCDF Tribal Entities:
http://nccic.org/tribal/market/toc.html

3. Potential Grant Resources for Child Care Facilities Development in California
http://www.buildingchildcare.org/Potential%20Grant%20Resources%20List.pdf

Question: My husband and I are considering opening some sort of facility for people with special needs (handicaps). What can you tell me about the process of opening one? I'm not sure of the hows and whats besides the standard day care licensing requirements I've seen. I have not been able to locate anything specific and would appreciate any direction.

Answer:

1. The National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care has terrific materials about caring for children with special needs. http://nrc.uchsc.edu/

2. The California Children and Families Commission is working toward making sure that children with special needs are provided with necessary child care services. Contact your local county commission to find out if they have resources or information that can help you locally: http://www.ccfc.ca.gov/countyinfo.htm

4. The National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities: Early Childhood Centers website at http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/earlychildcenters.cfm, has great resource links about all topics related to design of child care facilities. This might help you find more information about working on special care facilities in particular.

5. Your local Child Care Resource and Referral Agency is always a great place to start when researching any project. To locate the one in your community visit www.rrnetwork.org.

Question: I work with a CDC in Boston that is attempting to build affordable housing units specifically for family child care providers and their businesses. I have heard that organizations in California have done similar projects. If so, which organizations have created such units?

Answer:
Child Care Facilities Fund of the Low Income Investment Fund
San Francisco, CA
415-772-9094, ext.301
csiegman@liifund.org

Child Care Facilities Analyst
Santa Cruz Community Credit Union
(831) 425-7708 ext. 2338
davidfoster@scruzccu.org

Also available is the Santa Cruz publication, "Making Room for Children: Incorporating Family Child Care Homes into Multi-Family Affordable Housing Development."

Child Care Coordinating Council of San Mateo County, Inc.
(650) 696-8780, x 312
sally@thecouncil.net

Question:
Where can I go to get help writing a business plan for a new family child care business in Sonoma County?

Answer:
- Redwood Empire Small Business Development Center
606 Healdsburg Avenue Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Phone: (707) 524-1770
Contact: Lorraine Du Vernay

- The 4Cs of Sonoma County has a number of resources on writing a business plan in their library, for child care businesses. Contact the Regional Resource Center's R&R contact, Deborah-Chubak Wilson, 522-1413, ext. 126 for more information.