Project Growth

Project Growth helped Wisconsin businesses, communities, and ECE partners add services, find solutions, and innovate. Through Project Growth, two grant programs were created (Partner Up! and Dream Up!) as well as many resources for businesses and communities across Wisconsin. The goal of Project Growth was to boost Wisconsin’s workforce. The Project Growth program is now closed, but you can read about the two grant programs and resources that can still help boost the Wisconsin workforce today!

Partner Up! Grant Program

The Partner Up! grant program provided funding to support partnerships between businesses who purchased slots at existing regulated child care providers. The funding was awarded based on existing community child care needs throughout Wisconsin. The funding from this program was used to increase staff compensation, pay expenses, reserve child care slots for local business employees, improve the quality of a child care program, and more. If you’re interested to form these partnerships on your own, read the Business-Child Care Partnership Tool Kit.

Dream Up! Child Care Supply-Building Grant Program

The Dream Up! grants supported communities through a collaborative community approach, teams worked to evaluate, plan, sustain existing child care, and expand it in areas where there is need. Thirty-seven communities across Wisconsin benefited from this grant program along with many child care providers. If you’re interested in getting a team together in your area to address child care needs, read Be a Local Child Care Champion: A Community Tool Kit.

Project Growth Resources for Partnership

Expand the headings below to learn more about each.

Business-Child Care Partnership Tool Kit

Business-Child Care Partnership Tool Kit

This tool kit contains information and considerations for businesses and child care providers looking to partner within their communities. It is a resource for businesses interested in building child care capacity within their communities in an effort to create a stronger local workforce. Child care programs can also use this tool kit and it will showcase how they can benefit from partnering with businesses and ways to do so.

Modules will be released on a rolling basis and linked below. Enter your email address in the form below to get updates as each module is released.

Use this tool kit as you prepare to apply for the Project Growth grants and/or work to expand child care in your community. It was created through a collaboration between the Department of Children and Families (DCF), the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association (WECA), and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).

Wisconsin Employer Perceptions of Early Care and Education Research

Last fall, DCF surveyed nearly 1,000 Wisconsin employers from every county in the state, across a wide range of industries. The goal was to better understand their perceptions about early care and education for children between birth and age 5, as well as what barriers businesses face in supporting employees’ child care needs. Gaining insight into their perspectives can help us connect Wisconsin business owners with the child care information and community-based resources they—and their employees—need to thrive.

Download the Wisconsin Employer 2021 Research Snapshot.

Download the Comprehensive Research Findings.

Project Growth Evaluation

Project Growth is one of many initiatives DCF has introduced to stabilize our communities’ child care systems and bolster Wisconsin’s economy. To date, $30 million has been invested in businesses, communities, child care programs, and families through Project Growth and its two grant programs: Dream Up! and Partner Up! DCF has partnered with KW2 to conduct an evaluation of both grant programs. You can access each report below:

Innovative Communities

DCF would like to capture the many ways in which Wisconsin communities are working together and innovating to solve the child care crisis. What do we mean by innovate?

innovate (verb) 1 make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas, or products; could include applying new processes, introducing new techniques, or establishing successful ideas to create new value. 2 introduce (something new)

DCF wants to hear how new partnerships, business models, and/or investments have allowed communities to significantly enhance one or more of the following:

Access to affordable child care in the community, and thus, more parents joining the workforce
Quality of local child care to meet the needs of all children and families
Fair compensation and job satisfaction for the early care and education workforce
Equitable opportunity to a higher quality of life among community members Share your innovation by filling out the following form.

Upon review, your submissions may appear on our innovative communities around Wisconsin webpage. Fill out the form to share what your community is doing to innovate!