Project Overview
Third Sector partnered with SRI Education to support the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families in its work to strengthen local early childhood care and education systems. Working in seven communities across the state, we launched a series of “Mixed-Delivery Action Labs” that enabled local child care, public health, business, and community leaders to collaboratively develop solutions to child care challenges. Third Sector designed and facilitated these action labs, which incorporated Human Centered Design (HCD) and Community Co-Design practices to help local educators develop systems-strengthening projects, build connections within and across communities, enhance collaboration with state leaders, and implement “quick wins” to immediately help children and families thrive, no matter where they get their child care.
Most Americans believe that all families, regardless of race, background, or circumstance, should have the freedom to choose high-quality child care that provides a nurturing environment for their children. However, in many states, early childhood education and care are fractured landscapes of programs, with expensive operating and enrollment costs, inconsistent quality of care, and services that don’t meet communities' local and cultural needs.
Families and communities need strong child care systems, where families can choose from a range of programs—like Head Start, public pre-K, or community child care centers—and providers have what they need to effectively deliver education and care. “Mixed Delivery” child care systems are designed to enable families to access high-quality child care in a variety of settings while streamlining funding for programs.
The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (MN DCYF) is investing in strong mixed delivery systems across the state as part of its work to ensure children and families have what they need to thrive in kindergarten and beyond. Because Minnesota comprises a mix of urban, suburban, and rural communities—each with unique challenges and opportunities— MN DCYF knew not to rely on a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach to strengthening mixed delivery across the state. Instead, they created an approach to engage local educators, who are best equipped to design the solutions most likely to work for their communities.
In 2024, Third Sector partnered with SRI Education, the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) at the University of Minnesota, and MN DYCF to design, develop, and launch the Mixed Delivery Action Lab Project in communities across Minnesota. Over 10 months, we:
- Brought together leaders in business, health, education, child care, and human services to understand how mixed delivery could work for them.
- Designed and led a series of collaborative “ action lab” sessions to help local leaders enhance mixed delivery in their communities. Third Sector developed these action labs, building on our decade of experience in community engagement, expertise in early childhood service delivery, and skills in forging strong partnerships between state governments and community leaders. We then collaborated with SRI and CAREI to deliver a series of six workshops, each in seven communities across Minnesota. The labs incorporated human-centered design, liberatory design, and community-codesign, which are practices for making practical, equitable change possible.
- Trained state leaders from Minnesota’s Department of Education, Department of Human Services, and others on our design process, building their capacity to support local communities now and in the future.
- Supported communities to build new connections with others in the local child care and education ecosystem and strengthened relationships with state agencies, promoting sustained service improvements. We helped education leaders build lasting relationships with local partners and with their partners at state agencies like MDCYF, enabling them to draw on state resources and collaborate across communities.
Through Third Sector’s work, seven Minnesota communities launched projects that responded to local needs and opportunities for enhancing mixed delivery. Projects included developing a shared resource guide for families, hosting a community event with multiple child care providers, and setting goals related to fundraising and network support. CAREI’s project evaluation found that communities benefited greatly from the facilitated lab process and from the tools Third Sector provided, including a project management workbook and facilitator toolkit. Participants also built new partnerships and expanded their knowledge of available resources for educators, families, and kids. The action labs kick-started lasting collaborations that will continue after the project period.
Lastly, the action labs helped state staff identify common opportunities across Minnesota (e.g., a hunger for coordinated resource navigation for families) and lowered barriers to shared trainings for different providers. MN DYCF incorporated learnings from this project into its planning and has secured additional Preschool Development Grant funding to continue strengthening mixed delivery using these practices and more.
Early Childhood Development
| Project Name | Scope | Location | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland Child Care Stabilization Funding (ARPA) | State | MD | Closed |
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Third Sector partnered with the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to develop their funding formula for their second round of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) child care stabilization grants, including analysis incentives and bonuses that could be included in the funding formula that address racial equity and target improving access and supply of high quality infant and toddler child care.
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| Enhancing Governance Structures for the Connecticut Parent Cabinet | State | CT | Active |
| In 2021, the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood (OEC) launched the nation's first Parent Cabinet. This influential team of parents and community leaders is collaborating on the design of (and will influence) policies that impact children and families across the state. In this next phase, Third Sector will support OEC and its Parent Cabinet members by analyzing the effectiveness of systems, mapping critical internal and external communications processes necessary to establish an effective feedback function, and instituting a robust governance timeline and framework to ensure that current organizational efforts and leadership expertise are sustained beyond the inaugural years of the Parent Cabinet. | |||
