Advance Thief River Child Care Collaborative

Strengthening Child Care to Support Families, Employers, and Our Local Economy

Access to quality child care is essential to a strong and growing community. It supports working families, helps employers attract and retain employees, creates career opportunities, and gives children a strong foundation for lifelong learning.

The Advance Thief River Child Care Collaborative has been working together for the last five years to address child care challenges and build long-term solutions for Thief River Falls and the surrounding region. Through collaboration, planning, advocacy, and direct support for providers, the Collaborative is working to strengthen the local child care system and ensure families have access to the care they need.

A Community-Led Approach

Child care is not just a family issue. It is a workforce issue, an economic development issue, and a quality-of-life issue. That is why the Collaborative includes a broad range of community partners, including child care providers, employers, schools, economic development leaders, nonprofit organizations, local government, and community members.

Together, we are focused on practical, community-based strategies that respond to local needs and create lasting impact.

Our Work

The Advance Thief River Child Care Collaborative works to support and grow the child care system through several key areas:

Supporting Child Care Providers

Child care providers are small business owners, educators, and essential members of our workforce. The Collaborative supports providers by helping connect them with resources, training, peer networks, technical assistance, and opportunities for growth.

We also work to elevate the role of child care providers in the community and recognize the importance of their work in supporting children, families, and the local economy.

Expanding and Retaining Child Care Capacity

Many families face challenges finding available, affordable, and reliable child care. The Collaborative works with partners to identify gaps in local child care capacity and explore solutions that can help preserve existing care, support new providers, and expand options for families.

This includes looking at facility needs, business support, funding opportunities, and innovative models that may help increase access to care.

Building the Early Childhood Workforce

A strong child care system depends on a strong workforce. The Collaborative is working to promote early childhood education as a meaningful and rewarding career path. This includes efforts to increase awareness of career opportunities, connect individuals with training pathways, and support recruitment and retention in the field.

Through storytelling, outreach, and partnerships, we are helping people see that early childhood education is more than a job. It is a career that shapes the future of our community.

Engaging Employers and Community Partners

Employers depend on a reliable workforce, and many employees depend on child care in order to work. The Collaborative helps bring employers into the conversation and explores ways businesses can be part of local child care solutions.

By working together, businesses, public partners, and community organizations can help create a stronger support system for working families.

Planning for Long-Term Solutions

The child care challenge cannot be solved by one organization alone. The Collaborative provides a space for partners to share information, identify needs, coordinate efforts, and pursue solutions together.

Our work includes community planning, provider engagement, data collection, grant development, and continued advocacy for policies and resources that support child care in our region.

Advance Thief River Child Care Fund

The Advance Thief River Child Care Fund was created to provide direct, practical support to family child care providers serving Pennington County and the Thief River Falls School District.

Family child care providers play a critical role in our community. They care for children, support working parents, operate small businesses, and help keep our local economy moving. Yet many providers face rising costs, facility needs, licensing requirements, and other challenges that can make it difficult to start, expand, or remain in business.

Through the Child Care Fund, Advance Thief River awards grants to family child care providers for projects and needs that help increase or retain local child care capacity. These grants may help providers make improvements, purchase needed equipment or supplies, support business sustainability, or address other barriers that affect their ability to serve children and families.

Every contribution makes a difference. One hundred percent of donations to the Advance Thief River Child Care Fund go directly to supporting family child care providers. By contributing, you are helping preserve and grow child care options for local families, strengthen the workforce for local employers, and invest in the future of our community.

Why Child Care Matters

When families have access to quality child care, parents can work, children can thrive, and employers have a stronger labor force. Child care supports school readiness, family stability, business growth, and community vitality.

Investing in child care is an investment in our children, our workforce, and the future of Thief River Falls.

Get Involved

The Advance Thief River Child Care Collaborative welcomes partners who care about the future of child care in our community. Whether you are a parent, provider, employer, educator, policymaker, business owner, or community member, your voice and support matter.

You can help by participating in local conversations, sharing ideas, supporting family child care providers, and contributing to the Advance Thief River Child Care Fund.

Together, we can build a stronger child care system that supports families, strengthens businesses, and helps our community grow.

If you would like to get actively involved, send us a message using the contact form at the bottom of this page.