Connecticut Child Care Incubators: What They Are & What’s Next
CT’s child care incubators empower aspiring educators with free resources to start quality child care programs. Read more and learn how we’re supporting this initiative to increase child care access for families.
In a significant step forward for Connecticut, recent legislation now allows every town in the state to host a child care incubator, a model that empowers aspiring educators and expands child care options for families. This program, which The Connecticut Project Action Fund and our allies advocated for, provides support for people looking to start high-quality child care programs.
Child Care Incubator Program Fosters Innovation and Hope
In 2021, Connecticut became the first state to pass legislation to create child care incubators, an innovative way to begin addressing its child care crisis.
Child care incubators support aspiring educators by providing an on-ramp into the early childhood field. They combine free training and support with access to low or no-cost space at host sites to start high-quality early childhood education programs. Host sites also support these educators by providing:
- ongoing mentorship and coaching;
- help navigating licensing; and
- help setting up their child care businesses.
At a time when there aren’t enough child care spaces for families that need them, this opens up new options. Many would-be educators face barriers to opening child care centers of their own — not because they lack passion or skill, but because they rent their homes and landlords often interfere. Others don’t know where to begin their journey to becoming an early childhood educator or face different roadblocks that make launching a home-based family child care program just as tricky.
Child care incubators seek to open doors wider, not just for families in need of child care but also for those educators ready to own their own businesses. It’s important to note that an overwhelming 95 percent of early childhood educators are women, with the majority being women of color, meaning many of these new child care businesses are women-run.
Legislation and Expansion
A new law passed in 2024 will broaden the reach. Originally limited to seven cities – Bridgeport, Danbury, Hartford, New Britain, New Haven, Stamford, and Waterbury – new legislation will encompass all Connecticut towns, including those in Eastern Connecticut, which are among the most extreme child care deserts in the state.
With every town in the state now able to host a child care incubator, more families will have access to child care, more children will enter kindergarten ready to succeed, and more would-be educators will have the opportunity to earn a living doing what they love.
The Connecticut Project Action Fund and our allies advocated strongly for this expansion because every community deserves a chance to explore this option for addressing the child care crisis.
What’s Next for Child Care Incubators
Every child, regardless of zip code or economic status, deserves access to quality early childhood education. Early education lays a solid foundation for lifelong success, helps families and kids thrive, and is a backbone of our economy.
The Connecticut Project convenes organizations interested in hosting or supporting child care incubators in towns throughout the state. If you are an organization that would like to bring an incubator to your town, we'd love to hear from you.
Connecticut is ripe for change, and it starts with each of us.
The child care incubator program is just one of the many ways that together, we can empower families in Connecticut.
