We’ve raised $3.5M in new funding to bring quality, affordable child care to every neighborhood.
A little over a year ago we launched NeighborSchools with a simple question: what if we could help experienced caregivers open high-quality home daycares?
Everywhere we looked we saw parents struggling to find care for newborns and paying a fortune for preschool. We spoke with preschool teachers earning as little as $14/hour and we met some amazing women who had to stop working with young children because they couldn’t make ends meet. We discovered that in some corporate centers less than 30% of the fees paid by parents end up in the pockets of the actual caregivers. The existing child care system was clearly failing caregivers, parents, and, most importantly, children.
So when our friends “discovered” a licensed home daycare, we were intrigued. Compared to nearby centers, the parents paid 40% less and the Provider earned 2-3X more. Kids benefitted from more individualized attention, a mixed-age group of playmates, and flourished as they built a long-term relationship with an experienced caregiver.
Why, we wondered, weren’t more people doing this?
That question quickly became an obsession and NeighborSchools is our answer.
The NeighborSchools Team
Today we’re thrilled to announce that, based on our progress over the last year, we’ve secured $3.5M in new funding to scale up our efforts. This funding will allow us to invest in the team and technology that will empower the next thousand new home daycare Providers in Massachusetts and beyond. We will continue to develop the best services and resources to help every parent discover, research, contact and enroll in quality, affordable child care. And we will continue our relentless pursuit of our vision to help open a licensed home daycare on every block in America.
On behalf of Bridget, Cedric, and the whole team here at NeighborSchools, thank you to everyone who has helped us reach this initial milestone. If you want to join us on this mission, we are hiring in our Boston HQ. If you’d like to nominate an experienced caregiver to partner with us, you can do so here.
Official Press Release with more details, here.
Onwards,
Brian Swartz
CEO & Co-Founder
Nov 5, 2019
