As the early care and education system grows with public investment, policy-makers must ensure that new funding programs do not push women and minority-owned businesses out of the market, but rather, that they are supported to continue and thrive.
This will require prioritizing federal contracting or granting to support small, independently-owned and operated programs, and in particular, heavily regulating or explicitly excluding large corporate players from federal investment programs. This guidance was developed to provide policymakers and other stakeholders with strategies to ensure that publicly-financed investments in early care and education be devoted to build a system of stable, community-centered early care programs.
