CDSS Minor Renovation and Repairs Grant Providers Survey

Are you a child care provider in California? We want to hear about your experience with the recent CDSS Minor Renovation and Repairs grant! Please fill out our survey by Thursday, May 12 and you'll be entered to win a $100 Target gift card.

Minor Renovation and Repairs Grant Survey Encuesta de Subvenciones para Renovaciones y Reparaciones Menores 小規模翻新維修補助金調查 Опрос на получение гранта на мелкую реконструкцию и ремонт نظرسنجی کمک هزینه بازسازی و تعمیرات جزئی

Recently, CDSS opened up a grant opportunity to child care providers for minor renovation and repairs. Many of those who could benefit from this unique, competitive funding opportunity are home-based child care providers who operate small businesses, and are overwhelmingly women of color.

However, the design of the grant application is about the diverse potential beneficiaries of these public funds. The application design offered another demonstration of how public contracting can be more about government need/timeline and workload, and unintentionally bypasses non-English speaking communities and hurts their opportunity to build more value into their child care business.

We would like to survey applicants and people who wanted to apply, but chose not to, to provide feedback about this application process. Many expressed unfamiliarity with the qualifying paperwork and/or bid procedures, while some larger businesses had previous experience or understanding about federal funding requirements.

Surveying participants and potential participants about their experience, and understanding who they turned to for help will help give feedback to inform CDSS and the Legislature on how they should implement a more equitable and user-friendly approach so that no one is disenfranchised because of unnecessary barriers.

We can also learn about assistance to even the playing field in competitive grantmaking. This is a necessary feedback loop to better advocate for changes in our systems and ways of historic functioning.