The North Central MA Coalition for Employer-Supported Childcare, with the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts serving as lead agency, received a Synergy Initiative Planning Grant of $255,773 in 2024. The mission of the Coalition is to develop and implement a workable funding model that will break through the multiple barriers to affordable, accessible quality childcare for low- and moderate-income working families in North Central Massachusetts. It will also offer a path to a childcare sector that provides livable wages.

The project will address current challenges in the early education and care field from a different perspective by developing a business case and model for employer-supported childcare. Project partners will include two chambers of commerce, local anchor institutions, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, and statewide groups.

Goals for the planning year include conducting a Community Readiness Assessment and a literature review of existing models of employer supported childcare and assessing suitability for the North Central market, surveying hard-to-reach consumers and providers, and developing a cost-sharing model that combines employer, employee, and public sector contributions and a proposed organizational vehicle to administer the funding system.

2024 – Planning Grant	$255,773
Total	$255,773