Trained, caring providers. A program that stimulates young minds. An environment that is safe and designed for its unique "consumers". Add affordability and availability to the recipe and you're beginning to see the type of care that parents and communities want for their young children.

In the nonprofit world, these elements at best exist in an unstable dynamic. At worst, they compete with each other for the limited dollars available for child care. Appropriately trained and paid staff versus much needed renovations versus the ability of a family to find and pay for quality child care.

The Rhode Island Child Care Facilities Fund, open for business since last fall, is addressing two of these ingredients for success: the physical environment where care is offered and the availability of that care.

"For too long we have overlooked where our smallest citizens spend a large part of their day," explains Elizabeth Burke Bryant, executive director of Rhode Island KIDS COUNT. "A high quality facility is just one piece of the puzzle for high quality child care, but it's a very important piece."

The Child Care Facilities Fund was established through a partnership among The Rhode Island Foundation, Kids Count, and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to provide both the capital and the technical expertise child care operators need to develop and improve child care centers and family day care facilities throughout the state.

With $4.7 million in start-up money for loan and debt financing, the Child Care Facilities Fund expects to expand and/or improve up to 2,500 center-based or family day care "slots" in the next five years. Already, a dozen organizations have made serious inquiries. In addition to financing available through the Fund, the program is providing training and technical assistance for child care providers and non-profit board members, as well as for architects and developers who wish to learn more about the child care industry.

The inaugural project is a new 150-child Head Start facility that will be a key component of the North End Revitalization Project in Newport. Church Community Housing Corporation is partnering with New Visions of Newport County to construct the center. Steven Ostiguy, executive director of Church Community Housing, notes, "We were able to show New Visions that there is a financially viable way to do this and to facilitate a process they might not have been able to do on their own." The center should be open by the beginning of 2003.

Barbara Fields Karlin, senior program director for Rhode Island LISC, explains, "The exciting thing for me is not only will they be able to move to this new location, but the site is surrounded by 1,200 subsidized units of rental housing and many of the people who use Head Start live nearby, so this will be in their neighborhood."

LISC is charged with running the Child Care Facilities Fund, a task which fits well with its goals. Part of a national network that provides crucial technical support to community-building agencies, especially community development corporations (CDCs), Karlin points out, "Our mission is to help revitalize neighborhoods so they are quality places to live, work, and do business. We are known mostly for housing but it's really only about 70% of our work.

"If you're doing housing, you're going to be concerned about the other issues in the neighborhood. We're concerned about the schools, the commercial corridor, crime, and greenscapingand child care is certainly a key component of any successful community."

Rhode Island LISC hired Cindy Larson earlier this year as program director of the Child Care Facilities Fund. She expects that another three or four projects will result from the inquiries in the near future.

The Child Care Facilities Fund in Rhode Island is modeled on national LISC's Community Investment Collaborative for Kids program, CICK (pronounced 'kick'), which for the past seven years has combined its neighborhood development expertise with child care facility needs at sites throughout the country.

The Rhode Island Foundation and the state Department of Human Services each have committed $1.25 million over five years. Other funding partners, in addition to LISC, are

the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Corporation, United Way of Southeastern New England, Hasbro Charitable Foundation, and the Alan Shawn Feinstein Family Fund. A $400,000 federal commitment, secured through the efforts of Senator Lincoln Chafee, put the Fund over its initial goal.

Noting that the Foundation has already invested in activities that address affordability and that provide training for child care providers, Karen Voci, senior vice president for program at the Foundation, adds, "We understand the fundamental importance of quality early education to a child's brain development, success in school, and later economic opportunities. The Child Care Facilities Fund provides the 'places' piece of a 'places and people' strategy we must embrace to expand and improve child care facilities and career opportunities throughout Rhode Island."