by: Katie Mahoney
Posted on Feb 18, 2025
View Original Article
Community Connections for Children (CCC), York County Economic Alliance (YCEA), and ECHO (Every Child Has Opportunities) announce over $890,000 in grant awards to early childhood education providers in York County, PA.
The funds were awarded through two funding programs, and cumulatively project that approximately 510 additional York County children will be served with a high-quality early childhood education and 119 new early childhood educators hired. The projects spread across York County, from Hanover to Windsor, Stewartstown to the City of York. Both programs conducted application outreach, in person and virtual, in English and Spanish, and had the applications and guidelines available in both languages.
BLOOM Start-Up Child Care Forgivable Loans
Available through the BLOOM Business Empowerment Center, a program of the YCEA, nine start up small businesses have been selected to receive a total of $320,000, funded by private dollars through the ECHO Initiative, for new PA Department of Human Services (DHS) Certified early childhood education businesses across York County.
- Yennifer Family Child Care – City of York
- Happy Family Childcare – Dover
- iCARE Youniversity- City of York
- Little Bug Learning LLC – East York
- The Center of Early Learning & Childcare LLC- Stewartstown
- Nation Of Faith Day Care LLC- Hanover
- Alternative Rehabilitation Communities, Inc DBA Laugh and Learn Early Development Center- Manchester
- Faith in God Communiy Development Corp DBA Bread of Life Daycare – City of York
- Children’s Aid Society, Werner Early Learning Childcare Center- City of York
This program awarded forgivable loans of up to $20,000 for new home-based providers and up to $40,000 for new center-based providers located in York County.
For program details, visit https://bloomyork.org/grants/
ECHO Innovation Grants
Available through Community Connections for Children, 12 early childhood education providers have been selected to receive a total of $573,644 in grants, funded by private dollars through the ECHO Initiative, for innovative projects that expand the number of children and families served and increase the quality of care and education provided.
- Christ Church Child Care Center – York City
- Danielle Anderson Home Daycare – Dover Twp
- Kidding Around Child Care – Windsor Twp
- Kids and Company – Dover Twp
- King’s Country Kids – West Manchester Twp
- Play, Learn & Grow Family Child Care – Windsor Twp
- Stillmeadow Nazarene Child Care Center – Manchester Twp
- Sunbeam Station Child Care – East Manchester Twp
- WeeConnect – Early Learning Center – Spring Garden Twp
- York Day Early Learning – York City
- YWCA of Hanover Day Care – Hanover Boro
- YWCA York – York City
This grant program awarded grants ranging from $25,000 to $50,000 to DHS Certified family, group and center providers and Pre-K Counts grantees located in York County.
For program details, visit https://echoyork.org/.
“With this second round of funding, ECHO continues to impact children, families, employers, and early childhood educators here in our community. ECHO embraces innovation, collaboration, and action, and we understand access to high quality early childhood education is essential for the health of our economy,” said Katie Caples, ECHO Director.
A new round of ECHO and BLOOM early childhood education funding will be opened in May 2025.
ECHO was created in 2024 in direct response to the crisis in early childhood education faced in York County, our Commonwealth, and our Nation. Current providers 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. And 54% 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 Connection for Children (CCC) and the York County Economic Alliance (YCEA) with philanthropic support from J. William Warehime Foundation, Powder Mill Foundation, WellSpan Health, Kinsley Foundation, United Way of York County, and York County Community Foundation.
For more information about ECHO, contact Katie Caples at kcaples@cccforpa.org or 717-714-8561.
