Starting & Expanding Your Business

Learn about what you need to become an Employer/Owner, Early Childhood Educator, or care for Family, Friends, and Neighbors including licensing, background checks, required training and more.

Getting Started

Learn about the types of child care to find what’s best for you by visiting the Become a Provider page.

Child Care Resource and Referral agencies

The Department of Early Learning and Care funded regional Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies throughout Oregon. These agencies are available to support educators, program owners and employers, and those looking to become educators, program owners and/or employers.

CCR&R staff are available to provide guidance and technical assistance for the following business supports:

Understanding the process to open a child care and early learning program
Building knowledge and skills in business
Connect owners and employers with additional resources for business technical assistance
Provide trainings required by Department of Early Learning and Care for program owners and staff
In some areas, Business Coaches are available at the CCR&R to work directly with those interested in starting a child care business, for those who already are connected with a business and seeking support with a Shared Service Alliance. Connect with a Business Coach at your local CCR&R. (Link to each CCR&R Webpage, Multnomah County, Southern Oregon University, Washington County, Northwest Regional Educational Service District, Marion Polk Yamhill, South Coast, and Central Oregon)
Regional CCR&Rs

Finding Required Training

Not only is ongoing training required to maintain your ability to provide licensed care, it is essential to help you stay up to date with the latest research, teaching strategies, and best practices in the field. Early childhood education is a dynamic and constantly evolving field, and it is essential for educators to continuously improve their knowledge and skills to provide high-quality care and education to young children.

Ongoing training allows early childhood educators to develop new skills, acquire new knowledge, and gain insights that can improve their practice and advance their careers. High-quality training has a significant impact on the development and future success of the children in their care and helps educators build the confidence and knowledge to support children with diverse backgrounds, needs, and abilities.

Training is available from a variety of sources through the Oregon Center for Career Development (OCCD) . Upcoming trainings are available on the OCCD Training Calendar .

There are also a variety of trainings and webinars available through ORO, local Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, and technical assistance providers. Below are some of the upcoming trainings and webinars focused on child care business support.

Upcoming Childcare Business Trainings and Webinars

Business Supports for Expanding

If you are currently operating or want to become a child care business owner, there are resources available to support you. There are a number of investments made by DELC to support starting a child care business, the facility expansion of a current child care business, business sustainability planning, leadership development and strengthening business acumen.

First Children’s Finance

First Children's Finance (FCF) has been providing responsive business development services to child care and early learning businesses since 1991. FCF is recognized as a national thought leader on all topics related to child care businesses. FCF works directly with business owners and leaders in many states and two Native Nations that share the same geography as the United States.

In Oregon, FCF provides technical assistance and training to child care and early learning business owners and employers, including individualized consultation. Topics for technical assistance include, but are not limited to, business planning, retirement planning, budgeting practices, human resources and management, assessing multiple streams of public funding, and preparing for taxes, audits, and monitoring. FCF also provides Business Leadership Cohorts of child care entrepreneurs to support networking and peer-to-peer learning.

Northwest Native Chamber

The Northwest Native Chamber provides a range of technical assistance and business support services to help businesses succeed. Northwest Native Chamber can provide technical assistance to those interested in applying for the Child Care Infrastructure Fund (CCIF) in partnership with DELC and Business Oregon. Offerings include CCIF application assistance, budgeting and financial projections, business and market planning, CCIF project implementation, CCIF grant writing assistance, and access to services such as legal support, accounting, tax consultation, bookkeeping, employment and HR consulting, and capital access strategy development. Please reach out to CCIFSupport@NWNC.org to get started!

Oregon Child Care Alliance

The Oregon Child Care Alliance (OCCA) is a Shared Services Alliance that is operated through Neighborhood House with funding from Ford Family Foundation and the Oregon Community Foundation and work in collaboration with CCR&R Business Coaches funded by DELC. The goal of this work is to provide business supports and business coaching for child care business owners and early learning programs. The OCCA pools together multiple resources to support child care business owners: including tax training, discounts on tax preparation, business and computer training, HR support, free mental health care, early education curriculum, and assistance with obtaining a SPARK rating.

Shared Services offered in 17 counties across Oregon, in Spanish and English. Visit our website to see if we are offering services in your location: www.oregonchildcarealliance.org
7 regional CCR&Rs receive funding to work directly with the OCCA, allowing CCR&Rs to support child care and early learning businesses through business coaching and trainings.
The OCCA invites childcare business owners to join this free program, offered at no cost. Participants will receive 2 years free financial management software in Brightwheel or WonderSchool, participation in a network with their peers, one-on-one business consultation with their assigned coach, and other resources that increase and maintain program’s enrollment, maximize on collecting full tuition and setting rates that help the program cover their true costs.

Small Business Development Centers (SBDC)

Oregon is also home to the Oregon SBDC Network with service centers located throughout the state. Although these centers are not funded by DELC, nor focused solely on child care and early learning businesses, they provide no-cost confidential one-on-one advising, affordable business training, and other valuable resources for those interested in building their business skills and practices. The Oregon SBDC Network's regional centers often partner with the CCR&Rs in their area, and work to understand the specific business needs of early learning and care programs.

Need temporary Early Learning Staff Support?

Child Care Substitutes of Oregon works around the state to recruit, screen, hire, and train a pool of qualified substitutes that become available to work in child care programs in their community. Eligible child care programs who register with CCSO will have access to up to 50 state-funded hours of a qualified substitute’s time to support their program’s needs. To register as a program with CCSO start here.

Three full-time regional educators positions will be available soon. For more information visit the Child Care Substitutes of Oregon website at https://childcaresubsor.org/ or view the substitute job description.