November 21, 2012
Highlight On: Children’s Investment Fund
By hboyle
The Children’s Investment Fund (CIF) was founded in 1991, with a mission to help non-profits in Massachusetts to develop high quality facilities for early learning and youth programs. Their mission is grounded in the belief that children’s healthy growth and development depends on a safe physical environment. The quality of an early education program’s indoor and outdoor space contributes greatly to the overall quality of the child’s educational experience. For example, research demonstrates that facilities lacking in adequate space or appropriate heating and cooling systems detract from children’s ability to learn effectively.
CIF offers loans and grants to programs for renovation, expansion, and/or construction of new spaces for early education and youth programs. CIF’s loan programs offer borrowers more flexible terms then other lenders, and their grant programs include emergency facilities grants and small equipment grants. Since its inception, CIF has invested in 500 early childhood education(ECE) and out-of-school-time (OST) programs’ facilities improvement or expansion projects. This November, CIF distributed grants to six programs on the North Shore in the Lynn and Haverhill areas, for facilities improvements ranging from new windows to sinks in the classroom. In some cases, the grants made it possible for programs to apply for National Association for the Education of Young Children accreditation and will help with QRIS compliance.
By targeting non-profit programs, CIF aims to impact programs serving high-needs children who are more apt to attend a non-profit ECE or OST program. In this way, BTWIC and CIF are aligned in their efforts to improve the quality of early education for this vulnerable population.
CIF has released several important papers and reports documenting the condition of early learning and youth program facilities in MA. Most recently, CIF published the report: Building an Infrastructure for Quality: An Inventory of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Time Facilities in MA. The report is available here.
CIF will file a bond bill for facilities financing in January 2013, either as a stand-alone bill or as part of a larger community development bond bill sponsored by another advocacy organization. The United Way of Massachusetts Bay and the Merrimack Valley has agreed to work with CIF in its “Building Quality” campaign with the goal of securing funding to support the development costs for ECE and OST facilities across the Commonwealth. A copy of the bill and more information will be available soon.
Posted in Early Learning
URL: http://www.btwic.org/2012/11/21/highlight-on-childrens-investment-fund/
© 2012 Bessie Tartt Wilson Initiative for Children Inc.