By Katie Caples
A second round made available through ECHO & BLOOM Business Empowerment Center
The ECHO Initiative (Every Child Has Opportunities), Community Connections for Children (CCC), and the York County Economic Alliance (YCEA) announce two funding opportunities for early childhood education providers. Both grants opened October 1 and will close October 25 at 5:00 pm. Awardees will be notified in December.
BLOOM ECHO Start-Up Child Care Forgivable Loan Program
Available through the BLOOM Business Empowerment Center, a program of the YCEA, forgivable loans ranging from $10,000 to $40,000 will be awarded to early childhood education start-up businesses across York County. For eligibility, details and to apply, visit https://bloomyork.org/grants/.
ECHO Innovation Grant Program
This grant program will award grants ranging from $25,000 to $50,000 to early childhood education programs in York County, Pennsylvania to fund innovative projects that expand the number of children and families served or increase the quality of care and education provided. Full-time early childhood education programs located in York County, PA holding a current PA Department of Human Services (DHS) Certificate of Compliance, Early Head Start/Head Start Grantee, or Pre-K Counts Grantee are all eligible. For eligibility, details and to apply, visit https:/echoyork.org/grants-and-programs/.
This is the second round of ECHO funding opportunities. In a pilot round earlier this year, over $800,000 was awarded to early childhood education providers in York County, PA through two funding programs. The estimated impact from the initial funding round is approximately 400 additional York County children served with a high-quality early childhood education and 60 new early childhood educators hired.
ECHO was launched in 2024 in direct response to the crisis in early childhood education faced in York County, our Commonwealth, and our nation. In 2020, prepandemic, York County had 221 early childhood education providers. In three years, that number dropped to 170. Those that survived the pandemic are operating on average at 85% of typical enrollment due to teacher and workforce shortages. Early childhood education program waitlists average 50-75 children, and many have stopped adding to their lists.
Pennsylvania suffers a $3.47 billion impact due to childcare issues in lost tax revenue and employer costs. Over half of employers in PA said one of the most significant reasons they lost employees was due to childcare issues. According to American Progress, in Pennsylvania, 57 percent of all residents live in a childcare desert, defined as an area where there are more than three times as many children as licensed childcare slots.
ECHO is administered by Community Connections for Children (CCC) and the York County Economic Alliance (YCEA) with philanthropic support from J. William Warehime Foundation, Powder Mill Foundation, WellSpan Health, United Way of York County, York County Community Foundation, and Kinsley Foundation.
