Home-based child care is the most prevalent form of early childhood care in Colorado and the nation. Legally operating caregivers who are family members, friends of the family, or other trusted community members are referred to as Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) caregivers. They are frequently people of color, speakers of languages other than English, and license-exempt. Unfortunately, FFNs face barriers to accessing financial and professional resources that can grow and sustain their ability to deliver quality care. Despite universal need for improved access to affordable, quality child care, most communities overlook the incredible resource of FFN caregivers. Yet in several communities across the state, FFNs receive an array of support that encourages them to build their knowledge, skills, and social connections in a way that enhances the local early childhood system and better serves families with young children. In an effort to understand and elevate these examples, Donnell-Kay Foundation commissioned the Bright Spots Project.
Groups in Colorado have been gradually building our collective knowledge base about FFN care, particularly around understanding needs and policy and practice opportunities. [Please check out recent informative work done by Mile High United Way, Early Milestones Colorado, and Thriving Providers Project.] Throughout this work, there is growing recognition of the importance of elevating voices and visibility of FFN providers to better understand and share the value of their care. This insight coincides with a growing commitment to “community engagement” and being “community informed” among grantmaking and nonprofit organizations. We see these terms present in values statements, in strategic planning approaches, and even in funding guidance for different bodies of work. For many institutional leaders and policymakers, the challenge lies in a straightforward question: How can we recognize community members’ power and offer space and support for them to guide our path?
The Donnell-Kay Foundation, in partnership with the Buell Foundation, Colorado Gives Foundation, and The Colorado Health Foundation, is wrestling with this very question through the Bright Spots Project (the Project). The Project cultivates a shared understanding of how we can better support these essential child care providers and recognize their contribution to families and communities.
The Project is unique in two primary ways:
- It engages caregivers as leaders who guide the Project. The Project has adopted Community-Based Participatory Research as its approach. This builds on a long-standing tradition in the United States and internationally, drawing on the strengths and insights of community members who know the work intimately and are in the best position to offer their insights, vision, and experience.
- It aims to highlight what is going well in support of license-exempt FFN care in six diverse communities across Colorado. Rather than explore the many deficits present in meeting the needs of caregivers, it celebrates what is working. It will tell the story through case studies about the origin of each community’s work, what they do, how they do it, how it is funded, and what they see as the next most impactful work ahead of them.
More about the approach
Through several months of inquiry and relationship building, the Project team learned from local communities and state-level leaders their areas of greatest interest related to FFN support. In parallel, we worked with trusted nonprofits and community groups to identify caregivers interested in contributing to the Project in some way. Through a series of 1:1 and small group conversations, we got to know caregivers whose life experiences and passion could breathe life into the Project. Ultimately, we invited seven FFN caregivers to form a group to lead the Project.
The group brings a rich set of perspectives and ambitions to the table, all of which enhance our understanding of the diverse experiences of Colorado’s caregiving community – and expands our thinking on what we need to learn. This group includes women with a wide range of caregiving experiences. Some are formally trained in early childhood education and some have learned through doing. Some have been caregiving for decades, and some have found themselves recently in this role through changing life circumstances, like the Covid 19 pandemic. Some have pursued licensure, while others have built a license-exempt business, and others still consider their work primarily as a support for their friends and families. Among them, they speak four different mother tongues and hail from different corners of the world. Collectively, they share a commitment to understanding and sharing the stories of what is working to support FFNs across Colorado, and a desire to develop recommendations that will help advance the field.
This team spent two months meeting weekly to get to know one another, to learn and shape the goals of the project, and to build their skills as researchers. They are spending this fall developing questions for each Bright Spot site and conducting interviews and focus groups with caregivers and staff. In the months ahead, they will analyze the information collected from each Bright Spot and begin to co-write the final case study report and set of recommendations.
While it makes perfect sense to involve caregivers in designing and deciding what works for them, this often does not happen in the policy or funding world. Why? There are a few possible reasons, each worthy of our reflection:
- You might not hear what you want to hear. This is a tough one! Anyone working toward social change does so with a deep commitment, and often a set of ideas about why a problem persists and how to change it. Bringing in perspectives from people with first-hand experiences can both grow our collective understanding, and also challenge foundational beliefs.
- You may need to commit to more…time and money. To this point, we ask you to consider both cost and value in your decision-making. The time to involve more people, to offer interpretation and translation, and to make meaning together may cost more. We encourage you to recognize the value of the relationships that are forged, the insights and strategy that are grounded in life experience, and the sense of co-ownership and buy-in that can result.
- You may need to share power. For institutional leaders, it can feel like a lot is at stake as you contemplate strategy. It can lead to an impulse to constrain and to control. We encourage you to let go of the wheel a bit, to recognize your power and that of the communities you aim to support. Real engagement with those who are closest to the work means trusting them to drive.
Thankfully, there are more and more organizations at the grassroots level that are demanding that caregiver voices inform processes. In fact, many of the caregivers involved in the Project have developed their leadership skills over time through engagement with organizations who share the priority of caregiver voice. Realizing the potential of engaging caregivers with true authority and leadership from the top down can accelerate more effective strategies on the ground.
We invite institutional leaders to reflect on their past attempts at community engagement, and whether and how their work has facilitated or stifled authentic community leadership. Can you look at your practices and see some of the hallmarks of tokenized engagement? Seeking only input that reinforces your plans. Setting timelines that value speed over relationships. Remaining at a distance and learning about community needs second or third hand. We can and should do things differently when it comes to involving those who are most affected in positions of influence and leadership, and through doing so, we can find our way to greater impact.
The Bright Spots report is scheduled to be published in the Spring of 2025. We are eager for you to hear the stories of caregivers in communities about what is working for them, how they feel about their work with children and families, and how we can best support them moving forward.
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Blog written by guest authors Hillary Fulton, María de los Ángeles Osorio Cooper, PhD, and Erika Moldow, PhD. Hillary is founder and principal of Hopeful Consulting, leveraging 20 years of experience in the philanthropy sector to help funders and nonprofits magnify their social impact. Ángeles brings over 15 years of experience in the K-16 Education world as well as her community-based work and research expertise. Erika is a community-based researcher with 20 years of experience in formative and participatory evaluation of social programs.
