that they experienced prior to receiving the ACCM Pilot Program subsidy. This uncertainty about the future of the program and what this might mean for families, made parents anxious.
“That has caused a little bit of anxiety just trying to figure out, you know, come the summer, what are we going to do? Am I going to have to work part time to be home with [name of child] ninety percent of the time? When that ten percent, you know, maybe grandma will help watch… How am I going to figure out, you know, this half-day situation if the funding is gone?... That’s definitely added on an extra amount of stress.” - Participant from parent focus group
Provider Experiences
Overall, providers had a positive experience participating in the ACCM Pilot Program as it fit well with their operations, provided important revenue, and allowed them to serve more families. Providers enrolled more children because of the ACCM Pilot Program. Several providers explained that they had accepted more families because of their participation in the ACCM Pilot Program. The ACCM Pilot Program helped broaden their reach within the community. As a result, families' interest in these programs was greater and more frequently converted to enrollments. This allowed providers to care for more children coming from working households with low incomes. One provider described how the ACCM Pilot Program allowed them to open additional slots and increase their enrollments. “Basically, it allowed us to provide more care to children… we have a scholarship system we run amongst ourselves that we've had to limit more year by year… So, this allows us to expand to a wider variety of children to allow them into our services when parents otherwise could not afford our care.” - Participant from provider focus group
“Our enrollment has been able to increase drastically. Like, at one site, we’re able to offer 18 spots.” - Participant from provider focus group
Providers were also able to maintain more families enrolled in full-time child care. By retaining more families with low incomes who were at risk of reducing care hours or withdrawing, providers were able to maintain consistent enrollment levels. This stability was important for planning and managing staffing, classroom capacity, and overall program operations. As one provider explained, the stability and consistency of the ACCM Pilot Program subsidy payments made them a critical revenue source. “Instead of coming two days a week, they were able to come five days a week because it becomes more affordable.” - Participant from provider focus group
“So, for us, this funding is essential for us to really operate. We have several families that don’t meet the qualifications for the ELRC [sic CCW] funding .” - Participant from provider focus group
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