2025 Request for Grant Proposals

Request for Proposals

Child Care Narrative Grants

This RFP seeks to explore the impact child care has on Coloradans through innovative story & data collection, journalism, content creation and evaluation. Proposals are due Aug 3.

Request for Proposals: Child Care Narrative Grants*

Why are we focusing on child care?

The data tells us that Colorado’s child care system is in crisis. 

The cost of child care averages 37.9% of household income for the typical Colorado family with an infant and a 4-year-old. On average, parents are paying $13,000 to $20,000 a year per child on child care. And despite families paying some of the highest tuition rates in the country, Colorado child care providers struggle to break even due to high and increasing operational costs. Meanwhile, the child care workforce declined sharply after the pandemic and has not kept pace with demand primarily due in large part to low average wages across the field.

These systemic pressures are causing families to leave the workforce or forgo having children, contributing to a $2.7 billion annual hit to Colorado’s economy. And that’s to say nothing about our kids missing out on the opportunity to receive high quality early childhood education in the years from 0-3, which are some of the most crucial for social, emotional and brain development.

There is growing public concern about our overpriced and underfunded child care system, but there is no consensus about who bears the burden of fixing it. What’s more, early stakeholder research reveals a consistent narrative — “parents had the child, so parents must find a way to pay for child care” — but this stance does nothing but perpetuate the status quo. 

As clear as this narrative has been, it’s also clear that there is growing and rare levels of bipartisan support for the idea of improving how we provide child care in the U.S. — and why it matters for all of us. This is why Gary Community Ventures seeks to elevate public understanding about the issues facing our child care system and drive support for sustainable solutions. 

This request for proposals represents an effort to explore the impact that child care has on all Coloradans through innovative story & data collection, journalism, content creation and evaluation.

*We may issue a grant or a contract based on the organizational structure of selected applicants.

Throughout this RFP process, we will be deeply committed to protecting the editorial independence as well as the journalistic and artistic control of all grantees and contractors. We will work side by side with trusted and award-winning journalists, arts institutions and trusted community organizations to issue these awards as well as offer support for selected recipients over the six-to-12-month grant/contract period.

We aim to build a portfolio of grantees and contractors focused on a series of narrative themes, priority audiences and objectives. The focus areas were the result of an intensive RFP design session that included statewide early childhood experts, award-winning journalists, filmmakers, and creatives as well as members of communities who have not been frequent recipients of messages and stories about the issues facing our child care system but are still deeply impacted by them.

Narrative Themes, Priority Audiences & Key Objectives

We are looking for proposals from individuals, organizations and collaborators committed to:

  • Creating and distributing content over a six-to-12-month period
  • Exploring one or more of these narrative themes
  • Reaching one or more of the priority audiences outlined below
  • Accomplishing the following key objectives

Narrative Themes

  • Everyone Relies on Someone Who Relies on Child Care: Essential businesses, services and their employees are some of the most deeply impacted by the issues facing our child care system. We will prioritize proposals capable of surfacing narratives and stories that explore how a strong, affordable child care system might support all Coloradans’ ability to access the essential services we rely on to fuel our way of life and our economy. These essential services and employees may include but are not limited to hospitals and health care providers, first responders, active military, educators as well as business owners and employees who operate our food, transportation and manufacturing systems.
  • Made Possible by Child Care: Our child care crisis is also impacting cherished institutions and activities in our communities that make life worth living in Colorado, including our restaurants, museums, theaters, music venues, parks, recreation and outdoor activities as well as sporting teams and events. We will prioritize proposals that explore how the child care ecosystem helps make it possible for all Coloradans to enjoy the things we love.
  • Child Care Champions: Early childhood educators are infrequently celebrated, and we are interested in highlighting the often overlooked and vital work they do to support our children in their crucial earliest years of life. Additionally, there are some unexpected stakeholders beginning to champion the importance of these educators and our child care system, and we will prioritize proposals that seek to engage these stakeholders, including military leaders, business owners, religious leaders, conservative messengers as well as elected officials and government employees who are breaking with traditional approaches to explore innovative new solutions to the issues facing our child care system.

Priority Audiences

Proposals should engage one or more of the following priority audiences, who tend to be less familiar with the issues facing our child care system and how these issues are impacting all Coloradans. Please note that these priority audiences — as well as the descriptions of potentially relevant narratives for each audience — were identified through early stakeholder research from Gary Community Ventures and insights from the aforementioned narrative design session:

Key Objectives

  • Explore the idea of child care as a vital, shared societal asset or good and not simply a personal issue facing parents and child care providers
  • Elevate the experiences of those most affected by the issues facing our child care system
  • Include distribution strategies that clearly demonstrate how your storytelling will both reach, engage and resonate the priority audiences outlined above
  • Test and demonstrate the impact of narrative storytelling on awareness and sentiment as part of an effort to generate learnings about the power of journalism, storytelling, creative and content distribution strategies to increase understanding of an issue
RFP Categories & Applications

We anticipate awarding a combination of grants and contracts ranging in size from $10,000 to $100,000 depending on the category, with a total of $350,000 in funding distributed across the four categories outlined below. These are one-time grants/contracts to be executed over a 6 to 12-month period. 

See the category descriptions below for funding ranges, overviews as well as the applications for each category.

Journalism Proposals

We seek proposals from journalists, newsrooms and media outlets who are interested in developing compelling coverage aligned with the core themes and objectives outlined above. Strong proposals will:

  • Focus on underreported angles or lived experiences tied to the cost, availability and the role of child care within local communities
  • Demonstrate ethical journalistic practices and a strong, accomplishable editorial plan
  • Include a diverse set of story types and formats (e.g., features, photo essays, video, audio, investigative series, etc).

Proposals may include, but are in no way limited to:

  • Investigative journalism pieces highlighting regional disparities
  • Economic analyses focused on how our child care crisis impacts the workforce and economy
  • Feature series exploring a day in the life of often-overlooked family, friend or neighbor (FFN) child care care providers
  • Journalism capable of being syndicated across multiple trusted media outlets or distributed in ways capable of reaching and resonating with diverse audiences

Read more about this RFP focused on journalism and apply.

Story & Data Collection Proposals

We are looking for story & data collection proposals from individuals with deep ties to Colorado communities who are skilled at listening, engaging with diverse audiences and surfacing narratives and data from individuals and organizations who have stakes in our child care system. Those stakeholders include but not limited to child care providers, parents, business leaders and others impacted by our child care crisis. Strong proposals will:

  • Demonstrate deep ties to the priority audiences identified as above and/or experience in trust-building with target audiences
  • Propose a pipeline for sourcing and elevating stories and data that underscore the current state of child care in Colorado
  • Identify methods for making these stories and data sources available to journalists and storytellers within this RFP cohort as well as other media outlets, storytellers and community partners

Proposals may include, but are in no way limited to:

  • Listening sessions and story circles in rural and urban areas
  • Narrative development workshops for early childhood educators
  • Partnerships with local leaders and organizations to source data and stories

Read more about this RFP focused on community listening & story/data collection and apply.

Artistic, Creative Content & Storytelling Proposals

We welcome proposals from creatives, including filmmakers, designers, influencers, artists, content producers, advertisers, marketers, community organizations and communications experts. Strong proposals will:

  • Reflect cultural competence and creative excellence
  • Align with narrative themes and appeal to the identified priority audiences
  • Include deliverables such as short videos, murals, podcasts, exhibitions or digital campaigns as well as plans to measure the content’s reach and resonance

Proposals may include, but are in no way limited to:

  • “Made Possible by Child Care” murals or installations
  • Influencer-led digital campaigns targeting specific audiences on strategic platforms
  • Interactive exhibits at community events and festivals

Read more about this RFP focused on creative content and apply.

Story Measurement, Research & Analysis Proposals

We seek proposals from research partners who can evaluate the reach and effectiveness of the narrative efforts produced by grantees/contractors in this cohort. Strong proposals will:

  • Track the narrative and storytelling content produced by Journalism and Arts, Creative Content & Storytelling grantees/contractors across multiple channels
  • Employ both qualitative and quantitative methods as well as strategies to measure potential changes in awareness, understanding, sentiment and public discourse
  • Provide insights that illuminate how narrative and storytelling strategies drive awareness and understanding of an issue in local communities

Proposals may include, but are in no way limited to:

  • Pre- and post-campaign sentiment polling
  • Media and social media tracking and analysis
  • Focus group surveying

Read more about this RFP focused on story measurement, research & analysis and apply.

RFP Timeline & Key Considerations

RFP applications will be due on Aug. 3, notification dates for finalists and awardees are outlined below. Additionally, there key details that you should both consider including and omitting from your application, which are also outlined below.

RFP Timeline

  • The RFP will open on July 3, and the application will go live on July 9
  • We’re available to support interested applicants from July 10 to July 31 through designated Office Hours and Informational Webinars. See dates/times below.
  • Applications are due Aug. 3 
  • Applications will be reviewed during the ensuing month of August
  • Finalists will be notified no later than Aug. 13 and may be asked for additional information, which could include interviews
  • All applicants will be notified of final decisions by Aug. 29
  • Grant funding and contracts to be distributed in early to mid September
  • Grant/contract period to begin in September 2025 and conclude no later than September 2026

Other Key Considerations

Priority will be given to proposals that:

  • Are led by or in partnership with organizations and collectives embedded in or trusted by the priority audiences identified above 
  • Provide innovative and measurable strategies for story collection, production, distribution and measurement
  • Commit to co-learning and sharing insights

We will NOT consider funding proposals that:

  • Do not fall into the four categories or address the narrative themes, objectives and priority audiences addressed in this RFP
  • Lack clear methodology, journalistic or artistic integrity or do not commit to measure the outcomes and effectiveness of the produced work 
  • Proposals that fail to include a clear publication, distribution or dissemination strategies
  • Request funds for capital expenses

RFP Questions & Support

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if we can help

For questions regarding this RFP, please reach out to Will Holden, our Director of Communications & Storytelling, at wholden@garycommunity.org. We will also be offering two additional avenues for support.

Office Hours

We will be hosting regular office hours to answer any questions you may have live. Please click the links below to register and feel free to join at any point in these two-hour windows.

Informational Webinars

Additionally, we will host four webinars on Tuesday, July 22 focused to address each of the four categories of this RFP at the following times. Click the links below to register for the virtual meetings.

Future Grants & RFPs

Stay tuned for announcements on future requests for grant proposals

In addition to specific requests for grant proposals, we welcome the opportunity to connect with organizations engaged in aligned work at any time. Learn more about our approach to grant-making below, and feel free to reach out to our team with questions.

Picture of Angie McPhaul, Gary Community Ventures Director of Youth Success, smiling.
Angie
Director, Youth Success | amcphaul@garycommunity.org
Julie Stone
Director, Family Economic Mobility | jstone@garycommunity.org
Steffanie Clothier
Director, School Readiness | sclothier@garycommunity.org

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