Franklin County RISE: Child Care Programs
We know the past two years have been challenging, but we are excited to provide Franklin County child care providers with the tools to strengthen your program and continue providing exceptional child care. Through Franklin County RISE, we are now offering child care scholarships of up to $10,000 each, a comprehensive incentive program, and Emergency Rental Assistance to help you recruit educators, enroll new families, and maintain and grow your business. Each individual program will be responsible for managing the referral process and promoting these programs.
Learn about: Scholarships | Incentives – APPLICATIONS CLOSED | Emergency Rental Assistance
Child Care Scholarships
Enroll more children by helping families apply for child care scholarships of up to $10,000. Programs may apply for up to six scholarships on behalf of families with children ages three and four in Franklin County OR who are newly enrolling in a licensed Franklin County child care program. Watch the video below to learn more about family eligibility, the application process, and other key details.
Incentives
Incentive applications are currently closed. Information on incentives for the 2023-2024 program year is coming soon!
Through this program, licensed child care providers located in Franklin County that meet the requirements of the individual incentive awards can receive additional funding to support and grow their programs.
This $10.8 million program will benefit as many as 750 providers over the next two years by offering:
- Application for Nontraditional Hours Incentive Award
Programs that served children during nontraditional hours (6pm – 6am or weekends) between October – December 2022 are eligible for a quarterly payment of $1,250 - A one-time payment of $1,000 for supporting low-income families through entering into a new PFCC agreement
- Two payments of $1,000 for programs supporting low-income families by maintaining a PFCC agreement
- A one-time payment of $2,500 for centers and $1,000 for FCCs that enter into Step Up to Quality (SUTQ)
- A one-time payment of $2,500 for centers and $1,000 for FCCs that maintain their SUTQ participation
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A one-time payment of $10,000 for centers and $5,000 for FCCs that increase to a 3-, 4-, or 5-star SUTQ rating during 2022. If you maintained your 3-,4-, or 5-star rating please refer to the maintenance incentives above.
- Nontraditional Hours
- Application for care provided October – December, 2022 (Application Closed)
- Application for care provided January – March, 2022 (Application Closed)
- Application for care provided April – June, 2022 (Application Closed)
- Application for care provided July – September, 2022 (Application Closed)
- PFCC Incentives
- New PFCC Agreement Incentive emailed to eligible programs monthly
- Continued PFCC Agreement Incentive emailed to programs that maintained their agreement January 2022 – June 2022 in early July.
- Continued PFCC Agreement Incentive email to programs that maintained their agreement July 2022 – December 2022 in early January 2023
- SUTQ Incentives
- Highly Rated SUTQ Incentive emailed to eligible programs monthly
- New SUTQ Incentive emailed to eligible programs monthly
- Continued SUTQ Incentive emailed to eligible programs monthly
- Incentive FAQs [PDF]
Emergency Rental Assistance
Franklin County RISE also establishes a dedicated $500,000 Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) fund for child care staff, with an average of $3,000 in rental assistance payments per household. Visit the Child Care Educators page to apply!
Advertise an open child care position on
the Central Ohio Child Care Job Board
Franklin County RISE is funded by the Franklin County Board of Commissioners, and the City of Columbus, and administered by Action for Children.
If you are in need of interpreting services please contact us at RISEHelp@actionforchildren.org to schedule a time.