In the early 1990s, FCF packaged $3 million in public-private financing to develop five family child care homes and support three new child care facilities in low-income neighborhoods. Recognizing the tremendous impact of capital, FCF established a $5.8 million revolving loan fund in 1997 — the first loan fund in the United States dedicated exclusively to child care and early education businesses. By 2002, following FCF certification as a Community Development Financial Institution by the U.S. Department of Treasury and numerous inquiries from colleagues, FCF studied the feasibility of expanding the loan fund. Today, as a “lender of last resort,” FCF makes loans and technical assistance available to child care businesses and entrepreneurs in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri and Texas.

By leveraging financing and providing loans and technical assistance, FCF has:

• Developed, and supported development, of high-quality early learning environments in low-income communities, creating these durable assets for children and families:
  • Five affordable homes designed for family child care, offering the child care provider the opportunity to accumulate assets for future homeownership.
  • Three early education centers serving one city’s lowest-income areas.
• Launched, expanded or improved over 200 early care and education businesses that are not otherwise bankable — 215 loans worth over $5 million.
• Improved the business management skills of more than 1,500 prospective borrowers through over 2,700 hours of technical assistance.
• Created or preserved over 5,700 childcare spaces since 1998.
• Created or preserved over 650 jobs since 1998.

As FCF gained experience with loan clients and others, we recognized the importance of building business management knowledge and skills among child care professionals to maximize those investments. By 1999, heeding advice from colleagues and partners around the state, FCF introduced the first industry-specific training program in Minnesota on business practices and financial management. FCF began offering business consulting services in 2000, including organizational assessments, to help child care and early education businesses manage growth sparked by labor market demand.  In 2002, FCF introduced a State-certified, eleven-module business management curriculum—the foundation of our core areas of expertise:

• business plans, including starting a child care or early education business
• financial management
• marketing
• human resources
• fundraising
• legal issues
• organizational development and leadership
• board governance and more.

In keeping with our practice of creating and replicating cost-effective program models that work, we trained 23 trainers who have extended this business management training curriculum to early care and education professionals throughout the state of Minnesota.

In the past six years, FCF has increased the business management expertise of 1085 child care and early education professionals through:

• 1000 hours of consultation to 160+ providers.
• 146 customized workshops, based on the State-certified curriculum, to 925 providers.

FCF was particularly well-positioned to help meet continued labor market demand for more and better child care options. By weaving together its experience in local planning and its financing, facility development and business management expertise, FCF launched a consulting and community planning initiative to increase the quantity and quality of child care programs. By 2002, FCF had facilitated the creation of community plans for child care in ten communities, including three Native American tribes, resulting in new, expanded and improved child care facilities.

In recent years, quality improvement initiatives in the early care and education sector are taking shape in virtually every state in the United States. Increasingly, public, private and industry leaders are recognizing the value of coupling business management resources with investments in the classroon environment. FCF is a partner in Minnesota's Quality Rating System, helping participants create fundamental business changes to support and sustain gains in classroom quality. FCF also consults with statewide leaders to develop business resources for child care professionals in their states. Assisted by FCF, leaders in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and North Dakota are now working to implement statewide plans to develop their business management resources.

FCF is in the forefront of researching, developing and promoting effective business practices in the early care and education industry and, most importantly, linking those practices to quality programs and outcomes for children. This year, FCF piloted the Growth Fund, an equity-like investment and consulting program involving five Twin Cities-area nonprofit centers, aimed at sustaining access to quality early care and learning for low-income families. Advised by a team of industry and private sector volunteers, the Growth Fund is designed to support the success of participating centers, to help inform effective models for investing in high-quality care, and to do so by tapping the expertise of both participants and advisors.

The Growth Fund is just one example of the innovation and collaboration that has characterized FCF’s way of doing business from the beginning. From urban neighborhoods to communities and states around the U.S., FCF has forged public-private partnerships that bring creativity, expertise and resources to our work in the early care and education sector.  At FCF, these partnerships are evident in all aspects of our work — investments, programs, contributions and volunteerism. More recently, FCF launched the Children’s Chamber of Commerce to further mobilize and sustain broad private sector interest, expertise and investment in the business side of early care and education.

As FCF grows and our environment changes, we are continuously adapting and expanding these activities to strengthen the viability of the child care and early education industry as a whole—one business, one region and one state at a time. First Children’s Finance takes pride in these accomplishments and the results for child care businesses and the children, families and communities they serve.

Milestones in First Children’s Finance History

May 15, 1991	Founded by child care and early education professionals and advocates in the Minneapolis - St. Paul, Minnesota metropolitan area (as Development Corporation for Children)
1992-1996	Helped Twin Cities neighborhood organizations meet child care needs: ·                   Developed five family child care homes in Twin Cities neighborhoods, offering affordable housing to child care providers to help them build assets for future homeownership ·                   Provided technical assistance and packaged public-private funding to support development of three Twin Cities child care centers
1996	Expanded DCC services throughout Minnesota. Convened statewide roundtable discussions with banks, public policy makers, children’s advocates and economic development experts on financing for child care facilities and business development
1997	Launched the first loan fund in the U.S. devoted exclusively to child care and early education businesses (First Children’s Finance Loan Fund)
1999	Introduced industry-specific training in Minnesota on business practices and financial management (Business Partnership for Children)
2000	Launched consulting services to support labor market demand for growth and expansion of child care and early education (Centers in Change-Phase One)
2001	Earned certification as a Community Development Financial Institution from the U.S. Department of the Treasury
2002	Created eleven-module business management curriculum and trained trainers in regions throughout Minnesota (Building Excellence and Success Training, or BEST)
	Launched consulting and community planning program to increase the quantity and quality of child care programs by focusing on facility development (BUILD for Kids)
	Studied the feasibility of expanding DCC services through research in13 states
2003	Expanded lending and technical assistance to Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas
2004	Launched consulting services to stabilize child care and early education facilities affected by economic downturn (Centers in Change-Phase II)
	Consulted with statewide leaders to develop management resources for child care and early education businesses in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and North Dakota
2005	Introduced new opportunities for private sector investments and advocacy for high quality early care and education businesses (Children’s Chamber of Commerce)
2006	Launched a high-engagement investment tool and management capacity-building program to sustain access to quality early care and education businesses in low-income communities (Growth Fund)`
	Changed our name to First Children’s Finance to better reflect our role as a  nonprofit financial intermediary dedicated to supporting the business side of child care and early education.
2007	Expanded the Loan Fund into Michigan.
	Forged a Partnership to offer business and management assistance to childcare providers (including family daycare homes) participating in Minnesota’s Quality Rating System.