• The application opened on January 21, 2022, and closes on September 30, 2022. You can apply at any time before the closing date to begin receiving monthly payments.

• Most licensed providers are entitled to nine months of payments regardless of when they submit their application.

• All grant funds must be fully spent by September 30, 2023, and may be used to reimburse past expenses since the start of the pandemic.

• To continue receiving grant payments, child care providers must complete a simple monthly report.

• Applications received after January 28, 2022, may take two to six weeks to process before a child care program receives the first payment.

MetrixIQ, a Colorado-based technology company, is partnering with the Office of Early Childhood to distribute these grants. MetrixIQ supported the OEC in distributing the COVID-19 Relief Grants and currently manages fund distribution and customer support for the Denver Preschool Program.

All currently operating licensed child care programs and CCCAP qualified exempt programs are eligible for these grants. To be eligible for the grants, the child care program must:

• Have been in operation as of March 11, 2021

• Be licensed by the State of Colorado or CCCAP qualified exempt at the time of their application

• Be open and available to provide child care services at the time of their application

Beyond these few eligibility requirements, the grants are available to a range of programs. Programs can:

• Be operating in any setting (home or center)

• Serve any age groups (infant, toddler, preschool, and/or school-age after care)

• Have any Colorado Shines rating level 1-5

These new funds are in addition to current state funding. These new funds do not replace any existing funding or subsidies. All providers that meet eligibility criteria can receive funds, regardless of whether they serve CCCAP-subsidized children.

The amount each child care program receives will be determined based on the program’s size or licensed capacity and the program’s Colorado Shines quality level at the time of application. A child care program may receive a bonus for meeting high priority family needs like providing care for infants and toddlers, offering care during non-traditional hours like nights and weekends, and serving children with special needs.

Click here to determine your award amount for both grants.

The Stabilization Grant application opened on January 21, 2022, and providers received an email with an application link that is unique to your program.

If you think you should have received an application link but did not, please fill out a help desk request at help.coecstimulus.com. Select “Technical Issue - Application” as the category and “I did not receive a link” as the subcategory.

Step 1: Review the application guide and gather the information you will need. (See a sample grant application here with tips to fill out the application). Have these documents handy as you begin:

• Program license number

• Tax identification number: Social Security Number (SSN) for individuals or Federal Employer Identification Number (EIN) for businesses

• Automated Clearing House (ACH) banking information

Step 2: Using the link from the January 21 email, complete the online application. It should take only about 20 minutes. You have the option to save the application and complete it later.

Step 3: Watch your email for updates. We are working with MetrixIQ to distribute grant payments to providers. You will see communications from MetrixIQ about the status of your application and payments.

Step 4: Once you receive your first payment, watch your email for the request to complete the simple monthly report (attestation). Completing the attestation ensures your program will continue to receive payments.

Child Care Operations Stabilization Grant

This grant is for existing and new operating expenses, as well as financial relief for families in your care. Allowable uses of grant funds include:

• Personnel costs, including wages and benefits

• Facility costs such as rent or mortgage payments, utilities, facilities maintenance and minor improvements, or insurance

• Health and sanitization expenses such as masks, gloves, cleaning supplies and training

• Equipment for classrooms or administrative purposes (e.g., IT systems)

• Food service, educational materials, office supplies, and business operating services

• Mental health and counseling services for children and staff

• Reimbursement of costs associated with the pandemic, incurred since January 31, 2020

• Capital purchases with prior approval in writing from the CDEC (e.g., copy machine, HVAC system, appliance or other purchase over $5,000).

Programs are encouraged to provide financial relief to families in an amount that is equal to half of your total Child Care Operations Stabilization Grant award, if possible. Financial relief to families can include:

• New reductions in tuition

• Continuing an existing tuition reduction

• Forgiving unpaid parent fees or unpaid tuition for currently enrolled children

• Waiving parent fees

• Offering free services

Workforce Sustainability Grant

This grant must be used for expenses related to hiring new employees or supporting existing employees. This grant is only for costs associated with staff. This grant can only be used for staff who are recruited and/or hired according to state licensing rules and regulations, which includes required background checks.

Within the requirement that money is spent on recruitment and retention, the funds are flexible to allow child care programs to address the unique needs of their employees and programs. Allowable uses include:

• Compensation for current staff

• Staff benefits, fringe benefits

• Employee health and mental health resources

• Early childhood professional development opportunities

• Hiring additional staff (recruitment costs and/or compensation, hiring bonus)

• Other related workforce recruitment and retention activities

Monthly Attestation

Programs that receive grant awards must review and confirm their grant activities each month to continue receiving monthly payments. This process is called attestation. Each month programs will receive an email via MetrixEnroll with a reminder and instructions. Click here to see the information that is needed for each monthly recertification.

As in the original application, child care programs are asked to confirm each month that they will follow certain health and safety guidelines and continue to pay full compensation to staff. Programs are also asked about efforts to pass along financial relief to enrolled families in an amount equal to half the program’s Child Care Operations Stabilization Grant award, to the extent possible.

Final Financial Report

At the end of your program’s nine months of grant payments, you will be required to submit your expenses organized into the categories of allowable use of funds. Programs need to keep documentation to support these expenses and may be required to share receipts for auditing.

Click here for detailed information about documenting grant expenses and financial reporting.

Provider Resources

Please review this folder of Provider Resources, which has all of the grant support guides:.

Application guidance:

• Application guide

• English Application (español)

• Allowable Expenses (español)

• Payment schedule (español)

• Child Care Stabilization and Sustainability Grant Resources Overview

• Expense documentation and financial reporting requirements (español)

Attestation Guidance:

View the Attestation Guidance folder (español)

• Attestation FAQ's (español)

• Center-Based Provider Attestation

  • Sample Attestation (español)

• Family Child Care Home (FCCH) Attestation

  • Sample Attestation (español)

• School-Age Provider Attestation

• Attestation Topics and Schedule (español)

• Monthly Attestation Key

• Attestation Support: Use of Grant Funding

Large Purchase Requests:

• Large Purchase Request Form

• Guidance on Capital Expenditures and Large Purchase Requests

Other resources:

• Record Keeping for a Small Business

• Expense Tracking Template (download as a PDF or an Excel spreadsheet)

• Guidance for Selecting a Child care Management Inforamtion System (CCMIS)

Recorded Webinars

View recordings of past webinars here. Topics include 'Application and Program Introduction," "Enrollment and Tuition Attestation and MatrixEnroll," and "Workforce and Benefits Attestation."

Help Desk

If you need support at any point during the grant program, please fill out a help desk request at help.coecstimulus.com. Our dedicated team of grant support coordinators will be happy to help you.

Please note that MetrixIQ, a Colorado-based technology company, is the Office of Early Childhood’s partner in distributing these grants and providing individual application support to providers.

If you still can’t find what you need, please send an email to coecstimulus@metrixiq.com or call 720 305 9040.