14 Kirk Street, Lowell MA 01852
978-937-5899 phone; 978-937-5148 fax
Training and Small Business Development
© 2006 Acre Family Day Care
Updated April 27, 2007
History
Acre Family Day Care was begun
in 1988 as a project of the Coalition for a Better Acre. The program
was developed in response to two related community needs: jobs and child
care. The results of a community-wide survey concluded that it would be
better to train local residents to work as family child care providers
than to have the agency open a child care center, because a network of
family child care homes would not have the physical space limitations of
a child care center.
The program has a “trickle-down” effect in the community: the family child care providers, themselves, earn a living wage and are able to stay at home with their own young children if necessary; at the same time, they offer child care to the community so that other parents can work or attend job training programs. Acre Family Day Care became an independent agency in 1992. Though “Acre” remains part of its name, it serves the entire city of Lowell.
Acre Family Day Care provides training programs in English, Spanish and Khmer that enable women to run licensed family child care businesses in their own homes. The training program begins with an initial three-month session and builds a career ladder through “Benchmarks for Child Care Quality” workshops and professional development opportunities such as the Child Development Associate credential and Accreditation through the National Association for Family Child Care. Acre also has a business loan program that gives small business loans of up to $3,000 for child care business renovations, equipment, or higher education.
The key to Acre’s success is that after training family child care providers, the agency contracts with them to provide child care for 300 low-income children from the Greater Lowell area every day. The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care contracts with Acre to offer subsidized child care to lower-income families, and, with these funds, Acre pays the family child care providers directly.
The children receive quality care in a licensed home where the child care provider speaks the family’s native language (Spanish, English or Khmer) and has access to Acre’s technical assistance and small business support system. Acre monitors the quality of care provided to the community through home visits from our staff child care specialists, and offers the services of a licensed social worker for further family support. Acre’s staff reflects the community—our Spanish, Cambodian, Portuguese and English-speaking staff is able to address client’s linguistic and cultural needs.
Recognition
Anita Moeller, Founding Director of Acre Family Day Care, was named the 2003 Massachusetts Home-Based Business Advocate by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
Acre Family Day Care was awarded the Vision 2000 Model of Excellence Award from the United States Small Business Administration (SBA). The Administrator of the SBA, Aida Alvarez, visited Lowell to present the award to our staff and child care providers and referred to our program as “a model for the nation.”