Greater Twin Cities United Way is a long-standing partner of the early child care sector in Minnesota – from our holistic funding for nonprofit child care providers, to our advocacy efforts at the State Capitol on behalf of children and families.
One of the ways we support child care is through our 80×3: Resilient from the Start initiative, which aims to transform our child care system by growing the entire sector’s ability to support children and families who have experienced trauma.
In order to achieve this big goal, our child care educators and administrators must first have the tools to recognize what trauma looks like, and how its impacts can be addressed. This requires not only formal professional development using trauma-sensitive curriculum, but also the establishment of more informal networks of support to facilitate shared collaboration and problem-solving. As we continue widening our 80×3 network and building new connections among our partners, we’re able to drive this change in some powerful ways.
I’m excited to share more about the new investments – and new relationships – that are helping us amplify 80×3’s momentum for change.
This summer, 80×3 launched our next cohort of child care professionals and community leaders. This is our most diverse cohort yet, featuring representatives from across a wider spectrum of child care organizations than ever before.
For the first time, our cohort includes organizations representing providers of “Family, Friend and Neighbor” care (care that is provided outside a formal child care setting) and home visiting (home-based services that support children’s early development). These forms of education and care represent a significant share of the early childhood work that takes place in our communities – and one that is often underrepresented in important conversations about early childhood development.
A team from the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth & Families will also be participating in this cohort, with a focus on partnering to refine our statewide systems and policies to support families who have experienced trauma.
We’ve also provided ongoing support for our previous cohort partners with continuation grants, making small-but-significant investments (typically around $5,000) to support organizations’ ongoing efforts toward trauma-sensitive care – the kinds of investments that other funders simply don’t prioritize.
For examples of what this looks like, many of our partners used these dollars to update their internal policies, in areas like PTO and performance reviews, to ensure they were supportive of their organization’s commitment to healing and wellness. One of our partners, Wilder Child Development Center, used the grant to build out a new space to support children with sensory processing differences.
Our expanding 80×3 network is allowing us to identify more of these areas where targeted funding – from United Way or other philanthropic partners – can make a huge difference.
Beyond the powerful ways that we’ve grown momentum for trauma-sensitive child care over the past three years, I’m also pleased to share that 80×3’s impact is deepening United Way’s wider investments in early child care.
Through our partnership with the state of Minnesota, Greater Twin Cities United Way is now administering the state’s Early Learning Scholarships (ELS) program, which makes child care more accessible for families impacted by adverse childhood experiences. The investments and partnerships we’ve made through 80×3 helped establish us as a credible partner for this new collaboration – and our work with ELS is giving us new platforms to advance our vision of trauma-sensitive care.
Child care providers using the ELS system can now access 80×3 informational resources and training materials directly through their payment portal. Members from United Way’s ELS team are also represented in the new 80×3 cohort – tasked with finding new ways of embedding trauma-sensitive practices into our program administration, and to ensure that the ELS system remains effective for both families and child care providers.
Our investments in 80×3 also opened the door for a new partnership with the state, approved via HF15 and SF17 at the legislature this session, which will administer cash payments for parents who are working in early child care. This initiative will help ensure that child care remains a viable and sustainable career path for parents in our state. United Way will have more details to share about this exciting work as we plan for the program’s launch in 2026.
Learn more about our advocacy at the Capitol in 2025.
We are also exploring new connections for our 211 resource helpline. 211 provides a quick and accessible way for child care providers to connect families with essential services in areas like housing and food. In conversations with our cohort members, we are actively identifying new opportunities to weave 211’s holistic community connections into our cohort activities and the resources we make available for our child care partners.
Lasting change begins with new connections – bringing in new voices from across our child care system, and fostering new forms of dialogue across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Our work with 80×3 isn’t only about supporting our funded child care partners; the change we’re working toward will ultimately benefit all families in our region.
When our team discusses 80×3 as a “systems change” initiative, this is ultimately the kind of change we’re working to create. And as we see 80×3’s momentum continue to build, this is the kind of widespread, regional impact that makes me so excited for this next phase of the initiative.
