First 5 SLO County Awarded Grant Funding for Child Care Initiative
February 26th, 2025
First 5 San Luis Obispo County Awarded Grant Funding for Child Care Initiative
First 5 San Luis Obispo County is proud to announce a grant award from Uplift Central Coast to lead the formation of a Regionwide Child Care Coalition, comprised of six counties’ leading minds in child care innovation from Santa Cruz to Ventura. This work is aligned with Uplift’s visionary goal: to create an inclusive economic resilience plan for the region through creative, community-led efforts.
The competitive application process drew responses from 136 organizations across the six-county region that represent diverse industries, addressing needs in areas such as workforce development, aerospace, education and job training, child care and community development, and climate resilience and sustainable agriculture. In all, 36 of the 136 organizations were awarded Uplift funding totaling $9 million for sector-specific predevelopment activities. For more information on all of the applicants and grantees, visit: https://upliftcentralcoast.org/funding-opportunities/
First 5 San Luis Obispo County will receive $220,000 in Catalyst Predevelopment Funding to form the Uplift Regionwide Child Care Coalition, an ongoing collaborative space for child care champions throughout the six counties— with the goals of facilitating shared learning, advocating for policy change, and scaling successful child care models. A long-time convener in the early learning space, First 5 San Luis Obispo County previously launched the community-driven “We Are the Care” Initiative to identify needs and cultivate ideas and solutions around the child care challenges facing local families in San Luis Obispo County.
First 5 San Luis Obispo County Executive Director Wendy Wendt describes the Uplift Regionwide Child Care Coalition as an unprecedented opportunity to connect and build child care innovation across the entire six-county region.“Working families’ access to quality, affordable child care is key to the Central Coast’s economic health today and in the future. We at First 5 San Luis Obispo County are pleased to play our part in helping the vitally important child care industry to thrive and grow.”
First 5 San Luis Obispo County will team up with child care innovators throughout the six-county region to shape the Uplift Regionwide Child Care Coalition’s work. This multi-sector network will include early care and education leaders, families, resource and referral agencies, child care planning councils, cities and counties, chambers of commerce and employers, nonprofits and higher education.Grant-funded work is expected to begin in April 2025 and extend through August 2026.
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First 5 San Luis Obispo County has a 25-year history of working to give kids the best possible start in life. The agency was created in 1998 by CA Proposition 10, a voter-approved initiative that added a 50-cent tax on tobacco products—establishing a dedicated source of funding for programs that serve children from prenatal development through age 5 and their families.