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Christopher Gil
Director of Strategic Communications and Influence
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Atlanta’s Child Care Providers Invited to Apply for PAACT Repair and Renovation Grants
PAACT, the City of Atlanta, LIIF and Reinvestment Fund have joined forces to support Atlanta’s early care and learning programs
ATLANTA (June 27, 2023) — PAACT: Promise All Atlanta Children Thrive is encouraging Atlanta’s child care providers to apply for grants that will allow them to repair, renovate or otherwise improve their facilities as part of the City of Atlanta’s Year of the Youth. Thanks to the City of Atlanta’s $5 million PAACT commitment, supported by American Rescue Plan Act funds, providers can apply for up to $75,000 in funding to support repair and renovation projects. Eligibility is limited to providers who are participating in Quality Rated and serving low-income 0- to 4-year-olds in the City of Atlanta. The deadline is July 28.
“We know that when we invest in our children from an early age, we can ensure a lifelong desire and love of learning, support for their cognitive and emotional growth and provide valuable wraparound resources and support for the entire family,” said Mayor Andre Dickens. “When my administration made a historic $5 million investment in early education last year, we showed the importance of uplifting our youngest residents and our commitment to ensuring that Atlanta is one of the best places to raise a family.”
When PAACT: Promise All Atlanta Children Thrive and Early Learning Property Management awarded eight child care providers with facility improvement grants in 2021, an independent assessment by the Luminary Evaluation Group found that the brick-and-mortar enhancements led to powerful results. Providers and their staff reported increased motivation and pride in their work. They worked more efficiently and all members of the community — both students and staff — were safer.
Led by GEEARS: Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, PAACT is a citywide alliance of public and private partners collaborating to improve learning, health and well-being outcomes for Atlanta’s youngest children and their families.
A driving objective of this collective impact work is increasing the quality of and access to early education. In 2020, PAACT and its partners established the PAACT Fund for Quality to support child care providers and families in the Atlanta area. The PAACT Repair and Renovation Grant program is a key component of the PAACT Fund for Quality.
“For more than 12 years, GEEARS has operated to inspire a statewide movement on high-quality early learning and healthy development. It’s something we’re really proud of,” said Mindy Binderman, executive director of GEEARS. “As the backbone organization of PAACT, it’s exciting to see the relationships PAACT has nurtured over the years all come to fruition in a grant program like this, which is a true collaboration between many critical partners.”
PAACT, the City of Atlanta, Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) and Reinvestment Fund have joined forces to support Atlanta’s early care and learning programs with both funding and technical support to help improve the quality of their facilities.
“The PAACT Repair and Renovation Grant Program is directly in our organization’s wheelhouse,” says Lawrence Smith, program manager at Reinvestment Fund in Atlanta. “Part of our commitment to making sure all children have equitable access to quality early education means focusing on the physical spaces in which that education takes place. A child care program’s facility is not simply utilitarian. It’s a partner in students’ formative experiences.”
The program’s partners will assist prospective grant applicants by providing technical support during the project design and execution, as well as the application process. This aims to ensure that a lack of grant-writing, project management, or construction experience will not be a barrier to any child care provider who wants to apply.
Angie Garling, vice president, early care and education at LIIF, agreed with Mayor Dickens’ economic assessment. “Supporting child care providers and offering avenues for them to improve the quality of their facilities is not only an investment in children, it’s an investment in families, in communities and in our future. We are excited to see the exponential impact that will come now with funding invested in these businesses — and the families we will be supporting.”
There’s no doubt that everyone contributing to this grant program — a group that also includes fiscal agent, the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta — is a power hitter. But PAACT Director Shawnell Johnson notes that the program’s true stars are the child care providers.
“What providers have told us,” said Johnson, “is that, while they’re still recovering from the setbacks of the pandemic, they never lost their ambition or passion. Coming into these funds, along with technical support from our partners, is going to go a long way toward helping them achieve the strength and stability they need to keep moving forward.”
For more information, please click here for the PAACT Repair and Renovation Grant application.
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About the Low Income Investment Fund
Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) is a national community development financial institution (CDFI), headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., that invests in communities of opportunity, equity and well-being. As a CDFI, LIIF supports projects that have high social value but lack access to traditional financial institutions. Since 1984, LIIF has deployed more than $3.1 billion to serve 2.5 million people in communities across the country from its five offices. An S&P-rated organization, LIIF funds healthy communities by providing innovative capital solutions.
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