In 2014, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) granted funds to establish Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships (EHS-CCPs) to expand access to high-quality child care. Through these partnerships, EHS grantees partnered with center-based and family child care providers to implement EHS Program Performance Standards and provide comprehensive services and resources to meet the needs of low-income families with infants and toddlers in community child care settings.

In 2016, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation commissioned Child Trends to conduct in-depth case studies of six EHS-CCPs across six communities nationwide to learn more about their experience implementing the partnership model. As part of the work, Child Trends conducted interviews and facilitated group discussions with grantee staff and child care partners to learn more about the nature of the partnerships, including their strengths and challenges faced. In 2018, Child Trends convened partnership representatives in a two-day meeting to provide an opportunity for partners to share experiences and learn from one another.

In developing successful partnerships, particularly between agencies with differing structures and funding sources (e.g., child care with private and public funding), parties encountered several situations that either enabled or challenged their success. This resource highlights common facilitators and barriers to successful partnership implementation between EHS and community-based child care providers and shares a tool that may be useful to existing or new partnerships.