Dream Up! Grant will Support Milwaukee’s Spanish-Speaking Family Providers

The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) recently announced the recipients of the latest round of Dream Up! grants, which are intended to build child care capacity in the state's many child care deserts. Among the grantees were the Latino Entrepreneurial Network and the MKE ECE Coalition, who will be utilizing their grant to support Spanish-speaking family child care programs in the Proveedoras Unidas network.

Read the full press release here.

“The Dream Up! program provides a unique opportunity for communities to rally together to find innovative solutions that support child care providers, families, and the local economy,” said DCF Secretary Emilie Amundson. “We are eager to learn alongside these communities and continue our work in building an early care and education system that meets the need of Wisconsin’s families.”

While many communities have child care shortages, the application stated, only some are ready to roll up their sleeves and embark on a journey to address this critical community issue. Altogether, 29 applications were received for this third cohort of funding, with 9 cross-sector community teams ultimately receiving a total of $2.5 million in grants.

Each awarded community receives $75,000 to implement their "Strategic Supply Building Plan." In addition, $5,000 stipends are allocated to eligible child care providers who participate in Business Leadership Cohorts. Through this cohort, they'll receive training and support to update their business plan to better address the child care needs of their community.

This grant is an exciting example of the collaboration taking place inside the ECE Coalition and the continued search for new ways to support the sector now that Child Care Counts funding has been removed from the state budget. The ECE Coalition will continue to seek new opportunities to invest in and stabilize local providers in the coming months and years.