How the CWE Helps Childcare Providers Become Better Businesses
Patricia Stanko ’92 starts the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship’s eight-week Business of Childcare course with a question for the students, all of whom want to be in the industry: Who are you, and what is your why?
People in the class often respond that they dove into the business after being unable to find care for their own children.
“Everybody has that time to connect and see that it’s a huge need, it’s going to be overwhelming, and it’s a struggle, but it’s almost like feeling a higher calling,” Stanko said. “We need to come together and help each other, and that’s what we’re here for.”
It was that widespread need for childcare that inspired the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship (CWE) to start the program in 2021 after they received numerous requests from aspiring childcare providers about how to get into the business.
Anne Flynn Schlict, director of the CWE, said regulations can make it difficult to know where to get started. “It’s a very, very regulated industry,” she said. “So, we took some time to research it, then we applied for some funding to develop the curriculum.”
Initial funding was provided by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Pittsburgh and the PNC Foundation, which allowed the Business of Childcare to spend its first two years focused on providers in the city of Pittsburgh.
Then, last year, the CWE received additional funding from the Hillman Foundation to expand the program to providers throughout Allegheny and surrounding counties.
It primarily targets people who are beginning a career in childcare, but the Business of Childcare also helps those who are looking to expand to new sectors of the industry, whether that be a center, a home-based program, or group care.
Anne Flynn Schlicht is the director of the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Chatham University.
“This is focused on the business of childcare,” Schlicht emphasized.
“We go through: What is the process to get licensed? How do you establish your business? How do you operate as a business? Hiring, payroll, record keeping, because that’s really important in the childcare industry, so you pass your inspections every year, you keep yourself licensed. How do you get zoning permissions? All that kind of stuff.”
Stanko, whose previous experience in the childcare industry included co-owning a center with a Montessori/Reggio Emilia approach, is the instructor for the program. She said her “why” goes back to a calling to educate.
“We’re not trying to help someone open a business so they can make millions of dollars,” she said. “These businesses are going to open, and they’re going to help families, and they’re going to help children.”
Stanko said one of the most helpful aspects of the eight-week program is that it collects hard-to-parse information in one place—a huge leg up for those who can’t figure out where to start.
“We make these big binders. It has our slide decks, it has supplemental articles, it has links to state resources, even [links] to Pittsburgh’s website for how you register your LLC in Pittsburgh,” she said. “Things where you would have to be looking in 15 different directions by yourself, it’s all in one place.”
After completing the program, participants can schedule one-on-one counseling with Stanko, who continues to provide childcare in the Mount Washington neighborhood. The CWE also has a team of other technical assistant counselors, who can help entrepreneurs with marketing, accounting, and legal advice. Participants additionally obtain a one-year membership to the CWE after finishing the course.
Brooke Baran, who opened Yellow Bridges Speech and Sensory Development Center this year, was able to reach out to Stanko several months after the program ended to ask whether she was signing a lease at an appropriate location.
“She gave me some feedback. It’s just awesome to have a peer to talk to and someone to bring up other concerns you might not be thinking of right away,” Baran said.
“I would definitely recommend this to anyone who’s looking for support and opening their own company,” she said.
If you or someone you know are interested in starting your own childcare business, or if your family needs childcare, reach out to the Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship for additional resources.