The Texas Family Child Care Network Start-Up Mini-Grant Initiative will award funding to up to 200 family child care providers. To meet critical child care needs across the state, the initiative establishes the following reservation structure for applicants participating in priority care areas:

Reserved Priority Slots: 45% of total awards

This equals 90 total reserved awards (30 per priority category) out of 200 total program awards.

A minimum of 30 awards in each of the following three priority categories will be reserved for qualified applicants:

1. Child Care Desert (30 slots): Providers whose business is located in a child care desert as defined in Texas Labor Code §302.0461(b)(2)(A)(i).

2. Infant and Toddler Care (30 slots): Providers offering care for infants and toddlers under 36 months of age.

3. Non-Traditional Hours (30 slots): Providers offering care during non-traditional hours, defined as early morning care before 7:00 A.M., evening care after 7:00 P.M., overnight care, weekend care, and holiday care.

General Pool: up to 110 slots (up to 55% of total awards)

Up to 110 awards will be open to all eligible applicants regardless of priority status, awarded based on application scoring and feasibility.

Assignment to Reserved Priority Categories

Applicants may qualify for multiple priority categories based on their service offerings. To ensure distribution across all priority areas without favoring one category over another, multi-priority applicants will be assigned to reserved pools using a fill-rate balancing methodology.

At the time of application review, each multi-priority applicant will be assigned to whichever of their qualifying priority categories has the lowest current fill rate (percentage of reserved slots filled).

• For example: If an applicant qualifies for both Child Care Desert and Infant Care categories, and at the time of review the Desert category is 60% filled while Infant Care is 45% filled, the applicant will be assigned to the Infant Care reserved pool.

Redistribution of Unfilled Reserved Slots

Reserved slots will be held for their designated priority categories. If priority categories are not filled, our team will work to assess remaining capacity in each priority category and determine redistribution of any unfilled slots to maximize program impact and meet provider demand.

Minimum Qualification Standards

All applicants, regardless of priority status, must meet minimum eligibility requirements and achieve a minimum application score to be considered for funding. Priority status does not override the requirement for a viable, well-developed application.