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Robins Foundation Pilots “SEED” Grant Program for Small, Local Non-Profit Child Care Providers

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An ongoing crisis

It’s no secret that the child care sector faces massive challenges in the form of worker shortages, sub-living wages, and limited government support. While many of these challenges were evident well before the pandemic, the last three years have only exacerbated them, bringing the child care industry to a breaking point.  

To understand why our current child care system is struggling, it is necessary to take a look at the cost structure for child care providers. In order to meet licensing requirements and safety standards, providers must meet certain caregiver-to-child ratios; and the younger children are, the higher the ratio of caregivers to children must be. These requirements are important and are in place to ensure quality and safety. But, meeting those ratios creates a cost-burden for providers and means that wages for caregivers remain painfully low, exacerbating workforce turnover and shortages. In some cases, Masters-degree holding caregivers can find the same or better wages working in fast food. 

To make matters worse, those hurt the most by the current child care model are our children. 80% of a child’s brain is developed by age 3 and 1 million new neural connections are made every second in the first few years of life, making quality early child care a crucial part of setting our children up for happy and successful lives. 

But the current child care crisis puts that important early support in jeopardy. In 2022, 40.35% of Virginia kindergarteners were not ready to start kindergarten. This particularly impacts students of color, multi-language learners, students with a disability, and those from low income backgrounds. Early childhood education and care are of paramount importance for each and every child in our region, and there is an urgent need for support and new solutions. 

Barriers to funding

Child care organizations are strained and in need of support. In addition to the challenges providers already face, the process of applying for philanthropic funding can be onerous and time consuming. Many non-profit organizations have their own grant writer on staff, but child care providers, especially smaller ones, struggle to pay the staff they have, much less dedicate someone’s time and role to applying for grants. 

Our region’s child care footprint

Robins Foundation suspected there were many small non-profit child care providers that we did not know about, and which were unaware of the Robins Foundation as a potential source of support. To make sure our support is accessible to all nonprofit child care organizations in our footprint (Chesterfield, Henrico, Petersburg, and Richmond), the Robins Foundation commissioned a landscape assessment to determine eligibility for funding and mission alignment within our region. The study identified a total of 484 child care providers in the Robins Foundation footprint. 112 of these child care providers were non-profits and out of those, 61 providers were identified as serving children under the age of five.

Our foundation’s solution

In response to the challenges and needs within our region, Robins Foundation is piloting a non-profit SEED (“Support for Early Education and Development”) grant program, the goal of which is to provide small, local child care providers with a simplified and responsive funding opportunity, which lies outside of our traditional grant application process. This pilot is for 501c3 non-profit organizations who meet all of our foundation’s grant eligibility criteria. It includes a simplified application process for grants of up to $25,000. 

How to apply for Non-profit SEED

We are excited to announce that our non-profit SEED pilot opens May 15, 2023 at noon. 

To be eligible for Non-profit SEED funding, child care organizations must meet the following criteria:

  • Have 501(c)(3) non-profit status
  • Be licensed
  • Serve children 0 to 5
  • Use a secular (nonreligious) curriculum
  • Be located in Chesterfield, Henrico, Petersburg, or the City of Richmond
  • Not currently receiving other funding from Robins Foundation

If you meet this criteria and are in need of support, we encourage you to apply starting on Monday, May 15th. The non-profit SEED application can be found here.

Grant applications will be reviewed on a monthly basis until funds are depleted. Providers who are offered a grant will be required to complete a brief final report at the end of the funding period. 

Any organization receiving funds through the non-profit SEED pilot would be ineligible to apply for funding through other Robins Foundation grants for a period of 12 months.

If you have questions about the non-profit SEED pilot program, please contact our Early Childhood Senior Program Officer, Meg Pienkowski, Ph.D. If you have questions about the grant process or technology, please contact us at grants@robinsfdn.org.

We are optimistic about the SEED pilot program and the ways it allows us to expand our support to even more mission-aligned child care providers across our region. Together, we will continue to work for and support a child care solution that benefits all involved. 

 

FRIENDS

Robins Foundation 2023 ECE Grant Announcement

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We’ve got some exciting news! 

We are now accepting grant applications from nonprofit organizations focused on early care and education. 

Our grants will range from $25,000 to $150,000, and we will prioritize programs and initiatives that promote exceptional learning environments, positive adult-child interactions, sustainable workforce development, and advocacy efforts. If your nonprofit provides early care and education and wishes to apply for funding of less than $25,000, please be on the lookout for an announcement this spring about a streamlined, childcare provider-specific grant opportunity.

The final deadline to submit your application is Friday, March 3, 2023.

 

Key Focus Areas

For children to thrive, they need access to early, high-quality care and educational experiences, as well as families that are supported and engaged.

These factors influence children’s brain development, school readiness, and long-term wellbeing, so we fund projects in three focus areas: 

  • Provider support & infrastructure for early care and education
  • Parenting support & engagement
  • Early childhood policy & advocacy

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible projects and organizations include those that:

  • Primarily support children and their families during prenatal stages through age 5 
  • Serve community members in Richmond City, Chesterfield, Henrico, and/or Petersburg
  • Qualify as 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations

Which organizations and projects are not eligible?

Proposals are ineligible for funding if they exclusively focus on:

  • Travel to conferences or other events  
  • Budget shortfalls or cash flow issues  
  • Capital investments
  • Religious-based curriculum and/or admissions practices   

If your nonprofit received a competitive grant in June 2022, you are eligible to apply again. If you received a competitive grant in September 2022, we request that you wait until our next grant cycle (opening in July) to apply. Any questions about your eligibility can be directed to grants@robinsfdn.org.

We’re eligible! How do I apply?

Please complete these steps in order. 

NOTE: If you plan to apply for the same project or initiative Robins Foundation funded in June 2022, you do not need to submit the pre-application questionnaire and can proceed directly to step 2 below.

 

1. Submit a short pre-application questionnaire (linked here). Once submitted you will be able to schedule a call with our program officer.

Deadline: February 8, 2023

2. Use this link to schedule a 30-minute phone conversation with our program officer.

January 23-February 10, 2023

3. Complete a full application in our online grants system (linked here). Complete this step only after your pre-application conversation. 

Deadline: March 3, 2023

4. Grant decisions and notifications

Early June, 2023

If you have any questions, or if you need to remove a contact from your organizational profile, please reach out to us at grants@robinsfdn.org. We wish you the best of luck with your application.

Robins ECE Grantees Oct 2022-2

Robins Foundation ECE Grant Announcement- Cycle Two

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Investments in Early Childhood Education (ECE) have the power to change the trajectory of individual lives and entire families, as well as  deliver significant returns for the community. Access to high-quality early childhood experiences sets children and their families up for long-term success by:

  • Preparing children for school and lifelong learning
  • Providing support of child development and general well-being
  • Equipping parents to be their children’s best first teachers

 

These investments are all the more important as young children recover from pandemic impacts and the Richmond region contends with a widespread lack of affordable, accessible child care. To that end, we are pleased to announce the following grantee partners for our second ECE-focused grant cycle which totaled $780,000:

 

City of Richmond Public Library Foundation – $60,000 for RVA Reads in Nontraditional Childcare: Boosting Skills, Engaging Parents and Caregivers

Down Syndrome Association of Greater Richmond – $50,000 for Interactions Across Abilities

Family Lifeline – $75,000 for Early Childhood Intensive Home Visiting

Friends Association for Children – $75,000 for Raising the Bar on Early Childhood Education

Greater Richmond SCAN – Stop Child Abuse Now – $50,000 for Circle Preschool Program

Henrico Education Foundation – $100,000 for Virginia Early Learning Partners: An Initiative of the Henrico Education Foundation

Reach Out and Read – $75,000 for Reach Out and Read- Greater Richmond Initiative

Richmond Behavioral Health Foundation – $50,000 for Supporting Children Exposed to Substance Use

Richmond Performing Arts Alliance – $20,000 for Baby Artsplay!™

Urban Baby Beginnings – $75,000 for Richmond Resource Mothers Program

VPM Media  – $50,000 for VPM Early Childhood Education program

 

“From preschool programs to home visiting to parenting support and education, these organizations work tirelessly to ensure our region’s youngest children get the best start,” shares Robins Foundation President & CEO, Chris Chin. “We’re grateful for their efforts and delighted to support them.”

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Robins Foundation ECE Grant Announcement- Cycle One

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For children to have the opportunity to thrive, they require access to high-quality early care and educational experiences, as well as supportive families. These factors can deeply influence children’s cognitive and social-emotional development, school readiness, and long-term wellbeing. 

Toward the end of last year we shared that Robins Foundation would be investing deeply, and more narrowly, in early childhood education (ECE). Since then we have launched our initial ECE-focused grant cycle, had numerous conversations with our nonprofit partners, and reviewed dozens of proposals aligned with our new strategic framework. We are pleased to announce the following grantee partners for our first ECE-focused grant cycle which totaled almost $900,000:

 

Virginia Commonwealth University Foundation

Virginia Literacy Foundation

Families Forward VA

Sacred Heart Center

Healthy Heart Plus II , Inc.

Young Men’s Christian Association Of Greater Richmond

Fulton Montessori School

Children’s Museum of Richmond

Soar 365

Thrive Birth to Five

Voices For Virginia’s Children

Nurture

Coal Pit Ministry Inc

CommUnity Yoga Preschool

Wild Fern Montessori School

 

“All of these organizations have demonstrated a strong commitment to and have an impressive track record in early childhood education,” shares Robins Foundation President & CEO, Chris Chin. “We’re delighted to invest in their efforts to make a significant impact for Richmond families.”

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Recovery in Richmond: Rebuilding the foundation that makes education possible

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Over the past year and a half, many of us were forced to assume multiple roles. We have been parents and employees, teachers, principals and cafeteria workers, rolled into one. This collision of work, school and home life has been a massive challenge. Families have experienced enormous stress due to seclusion, isolation, disruption and illness. And yet, we can feel the hope of summer. Mask mandates have been relaxed or lifted in some states. We’ve created memes to help us laugh during a traumatic year. Breaks from school are here and it seems relief is close at hand.

But imagine that in addition to the above challenges, you did not have the money or the technology for an internet connection at home this past year. Imagine you had difficulties accessing a computer with which your child could attend school, or that you did not have the money to feed them lunch every day. Imagine helping your child, or someone else’s child, succeed at virtual school under all these circumstances, while more family members and friends than you could count on your two hands became sick or died of COVID-19.

We learned directly from our School System Administrator partners and from families participating in the Richmond Resilience Initiative that many members of our own community navigated these challenges from March 2020 until now. These scenarios highlight why many of our students and educators will be returning to school in September dealing with some level of trauma.

A recent study conducted by our policy partner, The Commonwealth Institute (TCI) found that “[m]any students, particularly those whose parents could not afford private supports, have fallen behind in the virtual learning environment.” Another study cited by TCI “suggests that an additional investment of roughly $10,000 per student in school divisions with high concentrations of students living in poverty, Black and Latinx students, and English Learners is required to make up for lost learning time during the pandemic.”

The lost learning time cited by TCI must be addressed; however, a broader and more far-reaching concern is the social and emotional well-being of our students and educators. Recent studies confirm the depth of the damage caused to mental health across the country because of the pandemic. In fact, damage to mental health is being viewed, and prepared for, as the “next pandemic”.

Hearing directly from community partners, school division leaders and striving families offers a window into the collective trauma experienced over the past year and a half, particularly for communities of color and those living in poverty.

One common theme we hear is the resilience of families in the face of broken support systems. A partner at the YMCA described the humbling experience of working with parents in our community who were forced to choose between keeping their employment and keeping their children in school. Families showed creativity and determination, going to great lengths to keep their children logged-in and learning during the pandemic. For example, in the absence of access to home internet or programs that would help bridge such gaps, a common occurrence in communities of color, several parents of school-aged children came together to rent a motel room where their children could connect to wifi and log on for classes each day.

Another common theme of these collected stories is the pressure put on teachers to manage the mental and emotional wellbeing of their students, even as they are dealing with personal hardship and trauma. One of our school administrator partners lost 18 friends and family members to the pandemic, a level of loss many of our Black, Hispanic or low-income students experienced as well. Both educators and students will be carrying the impact of these losses, and their grief, with them as they reenter school.

Closing the education gap exacerbated by the pandemic is now a real and pressing challenge facing our community; however, addressing education on its own will not be enough. With almost 40% of Richmond’s children living in poverty and the pandemic exposing critical gaps in access to behavioral healthcare across racial groups and socioeconomic bands, the far reaching impacts the pandemic has had on social-emotional health and wellbeing are likely to persist long after the pandemic is over. We now know that our ability to address mental and behavioral health and help students heal will set the stage for their educational recovery.

We invite our partners and peer funders to join us in reflecting on ways we can address the educational losses created by the pandemic, while reevaluating educational priorities to address the disruption, trauma and stress experienced by our educators, our students and their families over the past 18 months.

As Robins Foundation’s VP of Program and Community Innovation, Robert Dortch, states, “We have to think differently, fund differently, lead differently, act differently, advocate differently, use our power and influence differently if we’re going to change the outcomes for children and families who are suffering.” Whether it is creating more opportunities for social and emotional learning and trauma-informed curriculum, partnering with our local government to create mobile health services, or other solutions, the Robins Foundation will be thinking differently about how to impact and influence educational recovery in our post-pandemic world.

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Social and Emotional Learning & Behavioral Health Funding Collaborative

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It is well documented that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an adverse impact on mental and behavioral health across the globe. We also know that the behavioral, social and emotional health of children and families has been particularly damaged. 

We are learning directly from our School System Administrator partners and from families participating in the Richmond Resilience Initiative that families and children in our community have experienced significant challenges over the past year and a half, including depression, isolation and abuse. Angela Jones, Richmond Public Schools’ Director of Student and Family Services, said “Teachers, parents and students’ writing assignments have identified recurring expressions of depression, grief and anger.” 

We have also seen, during this pandemic, that our non-profit partners have been overwhelmed with requests for support and services far beyond their existing programmatic and general operating capacity. As a result of this increasing need, there is opportunity for funders to increase their impact by leveraging our collective resources and expertise to support our region’s children, families and non-profits. 

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Robins Foundation has embarked on a learning journey with several peer funding partners and identified specific ways in which we can collaborate and leverage resources to increase community impact. We are pleased to share that the Bob and Anna Lou Schaberg Foundation, Richmond Memorial Health Foundation and Robins Foundation have created and approved a collaborative Social and Emotional Learning & Behavioral Health General Operating Support Grant. 

Our foundations have approved five organizations as recipients of two-year Social and Emotional Learning & Behavioral Health General Operating Support grants for fiscal years 2021 to 2023, with funding from the three foundations totaling $700,000 ($70,000 per organization/year). The grantee organizations were specifically selected because of their ability to meet the unique needs of diverse populations, and because of their connection to social emotional learning. Needs in this area are significant and urgent due to the pandemic, so we prioritized organizations with a proven track record of successfully meeting community needs in partnership with the three collaborating funders. Meet our Social and Emotional Learning & Behavioral Health grantees:

Robert Bolling, CEO of ChildSavers said, “We cannot overstate the exacerbated impact of trauma on children made more manifest by a pandemic, by race and by the social injustices that create more stressors.  Now is the time to help! Proper mental health supports enable kids to process trauma and to build resilience as a cornerstone for strength and the ability to thrive. Our partnership with Robins, RMHF and Schaberg Foundation provides crucial, accessible and timely aid for our behavioral health work with children.”

We are proud to join together in supporting these organizations during a time in which behavioral health services and social-emotional learning are critical to the ongoing recovery of our communities individuals, children and families. 

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Metropolitan Business League Small Business Recovery Fund

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We are excited to partner with The Metropolitan Business League, Wells Fargo, Community Foundation for a greater Richmond and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Virginia to launch The Metropolitan Business League Small Business Recovery Fund.

This grant opportunity has been created to assist small, women- and minority-owned businesses financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The MBL Small Business Recovery Fund grant application is now available. Apply today!

Application Closing Date: Friday, May 29, 2020 at 5:00 PM EST.

Visit https://lnkd.in/dmwaBsp, for more information on The Metropolitan Business League Small Business Recovery Fund Grant.

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Congratulations to our 2020 CIG Winner – Housing Families First

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Top 5 CIG

C2020 CIG Top 5

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$6,385,725 in Grants Approved in 2019

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Robins Foundation Approved $6,385,725 in Grants for 2019

At Robins Foundation we are committed to a deep focus on education with the expectation that a focus on an “education continuum” or pipeline, could lead to better outcomes and reduce some of the challenges vexing this region. We continually look for innovative ways to keep making both incremental and transformational improvements in education policy and programmatic, nonprofit practice affecting children and families.

In support of this commitment, the Robins Foundation Board approved $6,385,725 in grants in 2019, including Community Focus Grants, Strategic Partnerships, the Lora M. and E. Claiborne Robins Community Innovation Grants, Northside Proceed Grants, and Director Initiated Grants.

Community Focus Grants, awarded two times per year, are for organizations and programs seeking funding along the education continuum. The board agrees that every level on the education continuum is critical to long term regional growth and success. We want to partner with organizations working to make the Richmond region the best place for children to learn, grow and thrive. We collaborate with neighborhoods, schools, nonprofits, and peers to move our region to a point where every child is bolstered by a well-coordinated education system. This year, $2,655,000 in Community Focus Grants were approved by the board.

For Strategic Partnerships, funding provides multi-year support for organizational growth in critical operations areas: Governance, Management, Finance, Fundraising/Development (Relationship Building) and Program. We use a number of tools to support leadership development, collaboration and the strengthening of resources “from the inside out” of an organization. The strategic partnership cohort includes Richmond City, Henrico County, Chesterfield County and Petersburg City public schools. Funding for Strategic Partnerships totals $505,000 for 2019.

The Lora M. and E. Claiborne Robins Community Innovation Grant (CIG) is awarded annually and funds proposals that celebrate the imaginative, cooperative spirit of Greater Richmond. The award is designed to support a project that addresses unmet community needs or issues in emerging neighborhoods. Successful proposals for the CIG demonstrate an innovative approach to solving the need, strategic collaboration, and the potential for a wider, long-term impact on the affected audience. CIGs totaled $1,310,000 in 2019.

In support of their commitment to children and families in Richmond’s Northside, Robins invested proceeds from the March 2019 sale of the Lora M. Robins Family Learning Center to help build the capacity of anchor organizations and support programs in Richmond’s Northside. The Northside Proceed Grants total $781,865 in 2019.

Each member of our Board of Directors has the opportunity to sponsor a limited number of Director Initiated Grants to organizations they consider deserving of support. These recommendations are strictly at the discretion of individual Board members and they may not be solicited for these funds. This year, the board funded $1,000,000 in Director Initiated Grants.

For a full list of grant recipients, CLICK HERE.

Serving and Solving Simultaneously

We strongly believe that serving the community isn’t just about funding. It’s about time, energy and ideas. Our staff welcomes the opportunity to align and strengthen our community by learning how to best support our nonprofit partners and their activities and initiatives. We are delighted to meet with organizations and engage in thoughtful dialogue that fosters innovation and drives transformation.

Let’s have a conversation about community, together.

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