Author: Erica Vansteenis, Stanford Center on Early Childhood
Home Grown launched the Thriving Providers Project (TPP) in response to the stark realities facing home-based child care (HBCC) providers, who are central to how families across the United States access child care. HBCC providers operate under conditions of persistent financial instability: income that fluctuates with enrollment, subsidy payments that arrive late, and limited access to benefits or financial protections. To address this, the central belief behind TPP is that a predictable income gives providers the bandwidth to think beyond meeting basic needs each week. Across cohorts in Colorado, Philadelphia, New York City, and Los Angeles, TPP has provided 143 providers with recurring, unrestricted direct cash transfers (DCT) of $500 to $1,000 per month, and tracked what changed.
Cash Kept Providers in the Field
Across every cohort, the vast majority of providers said that direct cash transfers prevented them from leaving child care. In Philadelphia, 79% said so in their first quarterly survey; in New York City, 73.3%; in Los Angeles and Colorado, 100%. Aggregated across all four sites, 85.3% agreed or strongly agreed that the transfers allowed them to remain in the field.
Child Care Workforce Stability Supported Stable, Trusted Care for Families
Parents and caregivers described choosing home-based providers because of trust, cultural familiarity, and long-standing relationships. Families emphasized that stable providers offered consistency, safety, and reliable care for their children. At the same time, providers described operating within an unpredictable financial environment shaped by fluctuating enrollment, delayed subsidy payments, and other disruptions. Across all four TPP sites, participants reported that reliable, recurring direct cash transfers helped buffer against income instability, allowing providers to remain open and continue offering the stable care families depended on.
Reliable Payments Buffered Against Income Instability
Income volatility did not disappear with direct cash transfers in the picture. What changed was providers’ capacity to navigate it. Across 509 survey responses, 92.3% agreed that direct cash transfers helped them manage income fluctuations and volatility, with site-level rates ranging from 83.3% in Los Angeles to 95.2% in Philadelphia. Gradually, reports of extreme or major financial problems declined.
Over Time, Providers Used Cash to Reduce Debt
The share of providers using transfers to pay down existing debt rose from around 45% in the early months to nearly 70% by month 18. As payments became predictable, providers shifted away from short-term coping strategies and began making progress on credit card balances, medical expenses, and overdue utilities.
DCTs Filled Gaps When Public Systems Failed
Providers across sites navigated a landscape of unreliable public supports: delayed subsidies, interrupted food reimbursement programs, and benefit eligibility that varied widely by geography. Direct cash transfers functioned as a bridge, covering food costs when reimbursement programs failed and keeping programs running during enrollment disruptions. Unrestricted cash met providers where they were regardless of what public systems they could access.
How TPP Participants Compared to the National Workforce
After approximately 18 months of participation, providers in Colorado, Philadelphia, and New York City reported lower levels of food, housing, and utility hardship than providers in the national RAPID Survey Project sample. New York City TPP participants reported food hardship at roughly half the rate of the national comparison group, and Philadelphia participants reported meaningfully lower housing hardship than national benchmarks.
The Bottom Line
Across all four cohorts, the patterns are consistent. TPP providers reported that predictable, unrestricted direct cash transfers helped them stay in the workforce, reduced income volatility, helped reduce debt, filled gaps when public systems fell short, and supported the quality of care families depend on. HBCC providers who care for our youngest children deserve reliable compensation for that work, and when they receive it, everyone benefits.
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