Experts estimate Baystate families lose $1.7 billion a year in lost wages due to missing work or reduced work hours because of lack of childcare. As staffing shortages and rising costs keep options limited to families, the United Way of Massachusetts Bay’s Shared Services MA program has equipped dozens of new early childhood educators with the tools and resources they need to develop and sustain strong businesses.

To date, United Way Massachusetts Bay Shared Services Licensing Support Program has supported licensed 27 culturally aware family childcare educators through the licensing process and the opening of their home-based businesses.  Twenty-five of which are licensed for 6 and two for 10, providing expansion of quality childcare for 170 children. In March, another round of graduates advanced in the Shared Services program. 

“Thanks to the invaluable support of the United Way Shared Services Program, my colleagues and I successfully navigated the licensing process and significantly aided in obtaining my EEC license. Today, I manage my own childcare program accommodating ten children,” says - Lilly Baez, recent graduate of Shared Services MA. “Approaching 50 years old, I am pursuing further education at Urban College, aiming to deliver exceptional service to my community. This opportunity represents the fulfillment of a dream and the realization of one of my goals.” 

The Shared Services MA program’s mission is to stabilize and grow the family childcare (FCC) industry in Massachusetts and build the wealth and business success of family childcare business owner/educators with a focus on Black and Latina women.

The Shared Services MA Licensing Support Program has graduated a cohort twice a year since its inception in 2022. Thanks to federal funding, the program will expand into the Greater Merrimack Valley, serving Lowell, Lawrence, Lynn, and Haverhill this year.

“We will reach an additional 100 family childcare educators with business training opportunities, an additional 120 educators with early screening training opportunities and bring 25 new family childcare educator/entrepreneurs into the field by the end of August 2024,” says Djena Jacques, Director, Shares Services MA for United Way Massachusetts Bay.

The United Way Massachusetts Bay’s mission with the Shared Services Program is to provide high-quality early education to the children in their care.

We partner with state and local municipalities to deliver: 

Our work has been professionally evaluated. FCC business owners/educators report an increase in understanding of business best practice, the ability to save and a feeling that they are not alone. 

Department of Early Education and Care and Neighborhood Villages reported 100% of participants in the program indicated that the training helped them to manage their program more effectively and 89% indicated they were satisfied with the coaching support provided.

Check out our Shared Services Impact report for more information on outcomes.   

Shared Services membership is free for early childhood educators and provides many invaluable benefits, including: