Grow Your Childcare Business Grant Program

Are you ready to develop a strategic growth plan and increase your revenue? 

The GROW your Childcare Business program will help you understand the changing landscape of the childcare industry and how to successfully grow your business.  The program is designed for up to fifteen childcare businesses that will learn from industry experts, financial experts, growth and strategy experts and from each other.  The program will be mixed between group meetings and one-on-one consulting sessions provided by the SBDC, Orange County Community Foundation and CIELO.  Group meetings will give each small business owner the chance to collaborate with each other and an opportunity to learn about core concepts of growth.  In between each group meeting, you will meet one-on-one with SBDC consultants to complete the assignment that was given during the group meeting.  At the end of the program your business will have completed a strategic growth plan, built financial projections, gained an understanding of the changing childcare landscape and learned about employee subsidies to name just a few. 

The program will focus on the following core areas of your business:

• State of the Childcare industry
• Planning and Management
• Cash
• Customers
• People

Eligibility Requirements

1. Must be located in Orange County
2. Must have a current Community Care License from the Department of Social Services
3. Be in business for more than 1-year
4. Ready to add employees, scale your business or open a second location
5. $50,000 – $500,000 in yearly sales
6. Be committed to participate for the entire length of the program
7. Share key metrics before, during and after the program

Schedule

Group Meetings:

• Thursday, January 27^th from 6:00-7:30pm (in-person)
• Thursday, February 10^th from 6:00-7:30pm (Zoom)
• Thursday, February 24^th from 6:00-7:30pm (Zoom)
• Thursday, March 10^th from 6:00-7:30pm (Zoom)
• Thursday, March 24^th from 5:30-7:30 (Graduation and Dinner)

Application Period

Online applications will be accepted from 9:00 am, Friday, December 17,  2021 to 11:59 pm, Monday, January 10, 2022. Paper applications will not be accepted, but applicants needing assistance can contact the SBDC for telephone support at 1-800-616-7232. Applications received after this due date and time will be considered late and will not be accepted.

All participants that complete the program will be awarded a $500 grant from Orange County Community Foundation. The Grow your Childcare Business program will be limited 15 businesses

Instructions

Please complete the entirety of the application and ensure all of your information is correct. If required fields are not complete you will receive an error notice which will not allow you to submit the application. For best results, we recommend using the following browsers: Chrome, Safari, Firefox. After submitting your application, you will receive an email confirmation.