Announcing the Launch of New Family Child Care Capital Access Program
LIIF Announces New Loan Product for Licensed In-Home Child Care Providers, Partnership with Ascendus and Working Solutions CDFI to Strengthen Small Business Owners in California
With support from the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, the new program will
support licensed home-based providers.
SAN FRANCISCO (May 7, 2025) — The Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) has announced its new Family Child Care (FCC) Capital Access Initiative, which will provide loans and technical assistance to licensed in-home providers. This is part of the organization’s ongoing commitment to bring resources to the undercapitalized early care and education (ECE) sector. The initial market will be California, where over one-quarter of the country’s licensed FCC providers run their businesses – and where there is a need for financial resources, capacity building and technical assistance. LIIF is initially partnering with Ascendus and Working Solutions CDFI, both renowned community development financial institutions (CDFIs) with expertise in small business lending in the “Golden State.”
“As a leading national CDFI working in the early care and education sector, LIIF offers an expert team uniquely positioned to drive capital to small business owners in California, where for over 25 years we have been in the vanguard of creative real estate financing solutions for these community anchors that support generations of working families,” said Kimberly Latimer-Nelligan, President at Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF). “We are excited for this synergistic partnership with Ascendus and Working Solutions, two renowned organizations with a decades-long track record of success building up small business owners in California.”
This scalable model will later serve other U.S. geographies via similar strategic partnerships. The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, through the Mastercard Strive small business program, is providing philanthropic support for program design, plus the creation of a data-sharing plan to best measure impact in the sector.
With a timely launch during “National Small Business Month,” the FCC Capital Access Initiative seeks to close the gap for entrepreneurs who are looking to grow and maintain their businesses via activities such as health-and-safety repairs, license upgrades, working capital and professional development. Capital will be offered as three- to five-year, fixed-rate loans of up to $100,000, with an anticipated $5.5 million in catalytic capital to be deployed.
The ongoing challenge around child care financing is well documented: Providers face significant fiscal challenges when it comes to sustaining or growing their home-based businesses. Despite a keen interest in both business-capacity development and financial support, many providers struggle to access mainstream financial products, creating an aversion to “conventional” debt solutions. For the few who can access the system, the financial tools available are often neither optimized for the child care sector nor tailored to meet the unique needs of family child care homes. Child care is a chronically underfunded sector, with a scarcity of opportunities for fiscal stability, let alone business expansion and wealth building. Even long-serving CDFIs, which are mission-driven to build communities of opportunity, do not often meet the distinct needs of the child care sector, particularly for home-based providers.
The FCC Capital Access Initiative aims to combat this challenge. To ensure approachability and success, culturally and community-responsive technical assistance will be offered to providers, including application assistance and guidance on optimizing the loan to best serve these child care businesses. Via LIIF’s strategic partnerships, this pilot will support the sustainability of these child care businesses.
“In 2018, we launched a loan product specifically designed to be simple and stress free for home-based child care providers, and successfully expanded it to several states,” said Paul Quintero, CEO of Ascendus, Inc. “What is unique here is the opportunity to partner with LIIF, a national leader in supporting early care and education, and Working Solutions, a CDFI focused on start-up and early-stage businesses in California, to combine their expertise and local footprint with our capital to create greater impact for California-based providers.”
“As a mission-driven microlender, Working Solutions has proudly served over 3,000 businesses with $60 million in responsible, small-dollar financing and business consulting,” said Sara Razavi, CEO of Working Solutions. “We are excited to leverage our microlending expertise in this collaboration with LIIF, a recognized leader in early care and education, and Ascendus, a national leader in child care financing, to address the substantial funding disparities facing a sector predominantly led by women of color.”
In-home child care providers are the backbone of the economy. As recently as the pandemic, the importance of child care to working families was brought into sharp focus, with the lack of access to affordable care reportedly factoring into some parents’ decision to not re-enter the workforce, post-pandemic. Such access to care speaks not just to spots available, but also to the strength and sustainability of the businesses serving those spots to children and their families; the FCC Capital Access Initiative seeks to bridge this gap. Impact is already being delivered, with several loans closed.
Jesusa Cooper, owner of Jeanette’s Pre-School Daycare in Concord, California, exemplifies the need for capital and how the FCC Capital Access Initiative is quickly creating impact. She has run her in-home child care business for 25 years, supporting hundreds of working families in an underserved community that has a shortage of licensed child care facilities. After emigrating from the Philippines, she was widowed and became the sole provider and parent for her two young children.
Once she learned about the microloan program, Jesusa expressed immediate interest and was connected by LIIF to Ascendus. “I didn’t know this type of financing was available to me. I am now relieved to have the financial support to cover some business expenses, including the teacher’s payroll,” said Jesusa. “I am grateful to Ascendus and LIIF, especially Carlos, the intake specialist at Ascendus. I was looking at taking equity out on my home. I’m really glad LIIF brought me into this program. With this new capital, I can fully focus on scaling my programs and addressing a waitlist of neighborhood families who need care.”
The Family Child Care Capital Access Initiative launched on April 7, 2025.
"With this new capital, I can fully focus on scaling my programs and addressing a waitlist of neighborhood families who need care."
— Jeanette’s Pre-School Daycare Owner Jesusa Cooper
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About the Low Income Investment Fund
Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) is a national community development financial institution (CDFI), headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York City, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., that invests to help create communities of opportunity, equity and well-being. As a CDFI, LIIF supports projects that have high social value but lack access to traditional financial institutions. Since 1984, LIIF has deployed $3.8 billion to serve 2.6 million people in communities across the country. An S&P-rated organization, LIIF funds healthy communities by providing innovative capital solutions.
liifund.org
About Ascendus
Ascendus is a mission-driven, nationwide Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) with over 30 years of experience empowering small business owners. We provide access to capital and financial coaching to help entrepreneurs achieve financial health and ascend toward lasting success. Dedicated to building thriving businesses and vibrant communities we have delivered over $420 million in financial support to more than 57,000 entrepreneurs across the country, building a future of financial ascension for all.
ascendus.org
About Working Solutions CDFI
Working Solutions is the First to Believe in Small Business. As a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), Working Solutions increases economic opportunity in California by providing small-dollar loans and grants and free consulting support to start-up and early-stage businesses, with a focus on systemically underfinanced communities, particularly low-income individuals, women and BIPOC entrepreneurs. To date, Working Solutions has deployed $60 million in capital and provided over 50,000 free consulting hours to more than 3,000 small businesses across California.
workingsolutions.org
About the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth advances equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world. The Center leverages the company’s core assets and competencies, including data insights, expertise and technology, while administering the philanthropic Mastercard Impact Fund, to produce independent research, scale global programs and empower a community of thinkers, leaders and doers on the front lines of inclusive growth. For more information and to receive its latest insights, follow the Center on LinkedIn, Instagram and subscribe to its newsletter.