The RICCELFF builds upon the Rhode Island Child Care Facilities Fund (RICCFF), an innovative public- private partnership that was formed in 2001 with a dedication to expanding access to quality child care in low-income communities throughout Rhode Island. Since launching in 2001, the RICCFF has provided nearly 7 million in funding and worked with over 200 organizations state-wide in an effort to improve the quality and capacity of physical space in our state’s child care facilities. In 2014, the RICCFF conducted an early learning facility needs assessment, the first of its kind in Rhode Island. This study, funded by the Rhode Island Department of Education identified a number of priority issues in Rhode Island early learning facilities and created the impetus for the formation of the Rhode Island Early Learning Facilities Project. The Rhode Island Early Learning Project is funded through the state’s Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge grant and is part of EXCEED, the collective commitment of Rhode Island’s early learning community to ensure that all young children soar. It extends the work of the RICCFF to include a broader base of early learning facilities such as public schools and state funded pre-k classrooms. Priorities of this project focus on addressing major health and safety issues in facilities as well as supporting early learning centers that are experiencing physical space challenges with the new, 2013, child care licensing regulations.
