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Family and Center-Based Child Care |
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CEI developed its initial child care strategy in 1988 in order to strengthen the position of child care providers in Maine. We believed that on the local level, child care is an essential component to any economic development plan. Since then we have used many different strategies to leverage financing and business assistance to child care providers, as well as help businesses provide quality care for their employees. We look at child care through the 3E lens: Economy, Equity and the Environment.
 CEI provides loans to home and center-based facilities throughout the state of Maine which strive to provide the highest quality care to young people. We use state standards and an outside contractor to evaluate each child care facility on an individual basis. Financing is dependent on creating dedicated spots for families with low incomes or children with special needs (see Finance your Business section).
We offer statewide assistance in both one-to-one and workshop settings for anyone interested in starting a child care business. Culturally appropriate targeted assistance is available for refugees and immigrants through our StartSmart program. With support from the Early Learning Opportunities Grants (ELOG) provided through the Children's Bureau. Federal Department of Health and Human Services, CEI provides grant management, fiduciary and project coordination services for Coastal ACCESS. CEI assists Coastal ACCESS to develop and design child care grant proposals that benefit child care providers focused on enhancing early literacy activities through the use of volunteers, family literacy programming, and early literacy trainings; promoting learning readiness by expanding options for local research-based curriculum trainings; increasing quality in programs through professional development and accreditation supports; expanding the provision of and access to early learning programming for children with special needs; and enhancing transition to public schools by linking school readiness assessments and activities at child care sites with kindergarten teachers within elementary schools. CEI also partners with Ken/Som ACCESS in another ELOG grant to provide business counseling and technical assistance to child care businesses in Kennebec and Somerset Counties. During 2004/2005, CEI provided one-to-one counseling and assistance on these topics to child care providers in Kennebec and Somerset Counties, working in partnership with the Kennebec/Somerset ACCESS and the Kennebec Valley Council of Local Governments. CEI is also involved in educating businesses about the possibilities of providing child care directly to their workers through multi-employer-supported child care facilities (MESCC). As part of our ongoing efforts to support child care and other community facilities in Maine and throughout the nation, we participate in state and national coalitions which advocate expanding the scope of child care services and the amount of subsidies available to parents, providers and businesses supporting child care needs of employees. |
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Kids R Special Child Care Center - The business of child care |
For Peggy Soucy, owner of Kids R Special Child Care Center, her
business is a "work of love." The center has grown from serving a
handful of children in 1992 to 37 children today, half of whom come
from families with low incomes. Like other businesses, running a child
care center in rural Maine requires planning, capital, and a strong
sense of market trends in order to thrive. When Peggy needed a loan to
build a new structure on her property for school aged kids, she turned
to CEI. The loan officer saw Peggy's solid track of growth and was
impressed with the high quality of care she provided. CEI loaned Peggy
$40,000 to construct the new building. This fall the building was
finished and is fully equipped with computers, puzzles, games, arts and
crafts, an air hockey table and more.
Peggy is looking at other ways of improving her business. With
the help of CEI's Women's Business Center, she is developing a web page
to advertise to prospective families and communicate with parents.
Peggy recognizes that more families are connected to the internet and
wants to take advantage of technology.
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Maine Legislature Passes Model Anti-Predatory Lending Bill.