Build, Learn, Grow Stabilization Grants are designed to provide short-term funding to early care and education and out-of-school time programs that have faced increased costs and challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing them to stabilize their operations and build capacity for the future.

Child care programs may use Build, Learn, Grow Stabilization Grant funds across six categories of allowable expenses, for reimbursement of expenses incurred from Jan. 31, 2020–Sept. 30, 2023. These allowable expense categories include:

• Personnel Costs: Personnel costs include expenses related to hiring, compensating, training or retaining staff.
• Facility Fees, Maintenance and Improvements: Programs may use grant funds for expenses required to pay for, maintain or improve their facilities.
• COVID-19 Safety-Related Needs: Programs may use grant funds to purchase, replenish or update equipment and supplies used in response to COVID-19.
• Goods and Services Necessary to Resume and Strengthen Operations: Programs may use grant funds for expenses that support them in maintaining or resuming full operations, as well as making investments in goods and services that strengthen their programs for the long-term.
• Mental Health Supports for Children and Employees: Programs may use grant funds to support costs related to the mental health and well-being of their children and employees.
• Health and Safety Training: Programs may use grant funds for costs associated with training staff in health and safety measures.

Download the Allowable Expense Guide

If your family child care home has only one employee (you), you are not required to invest at least 25% of your grant award toward increasing staff wages or benefits. You are welcome to use your grant funds in this way, but you are not required to adhere to this provider agreement stipulation. If your FCCH has employees other than you, then you must follow this requirement.

Programs may use Build, Learn, Grow Stabilization Grant funds to cover expenses incurred from Jan. 31, 2020–Sept. 30, 2023.

These funds are not considered a loan, and child care providers who comply with funding requirements will not be required to pay them back. However, funding recipients found to have violated the terms of the application process or attestation, or who are found to have provided false or misleading information to OECOSL regarding funding requirements, may be asked to repay funds, be deemed ineligible for future grant rounds, and/or be referred to Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration Audits Department for additional action.

Additionally, programs that close permanently during the grant period will be required to return any unused funds.

All programs receiving a Stabilization Grant must submit a Grant Expense Report for each round of grant funding indicating how grant funds were used.

Additionally, federal regulations require all recipients of federal funds to keep financial documents for five years. You will only be required to produce the receipts if your program is selected for an audit to provide evidence of expenditures, as indicated in your grant. Expenditure records and supporting documentation examples include:

• Mortgage/rent/space cost statements
• Utility statements
• Payroll and benefit records
• Original invoices and/or receipts for purchases of materials/supplies
• Documentation of other benefits provided to child care staff members such as overage of insurance costs or tuition reimbursement

Download the Allowable Expense Guide to see examples of acceptable documentation for each category.

If a program closes during the grant period, the provider will be required to return any remaining grant funds.

Yes. All programs will receive a 1099 for grant funds received. OECOSL recommends consulting with your tax professional for tax-related concerns. If you do not currently have a tax professional, contact the SPARK Help Desk at (800) 299-1627 or email help@indianaspark.com. ​

No. Stabilization Grant funds can only be used to support programs serving children up to 13 years of age. This is in accordance with guidance from the Office of Child Care and because these funds are coming through CCDF which only serves children up to 13 years of age.

At this time, funds for Indiana’s Build, Learn, Grow Stabilization Grants have been exhausted and there are no plans for additional rounds of funding.

To complete a grant report, you must be a Program Admin in I-LEAD. Log in to I-LEAD and access the Stabilization Grant portal through the button on the homepage. Then select the Reporting tab and your program site to begin the grant report. You will enter expense amounts by category, even if the answer is $0. You must complete this Grant Expense Report before you are eligible to complete a Round 2 grant application. Reference the Grant Expense Reporting Guide for step-by-step details.

For questions related to staff wage increases or staff wages after the grant, you should only include permanent wage increases that will continue for the long term. Do not include temporary staff bonuses or short-term wage increases as a permanent increase in pay.

Yes. OECOSL has partnered with SPARK Learning Lab to provide pre- and post-award support and technical assistance to awarded programs. Support includes hosted webinars for field experts to share best practices for the use of grant funds and peer-sharing events, as well as post-award technical assistance including a cohort-based approach to supporting programs as they account for funds, explore and make decisions for the use of funds, and track related expenses.

Awarded programs may use Build, Learn, Grow Stabilization Grant funds across nine categories of allowable expenses, for reimbursement of expenses incurred from Jan. 31, 2020 – Sept. 30, 2023. Programs are required to document spending and be prepared to share those records should OECOSL request them by audit.

Allowable expense categories include:

• Personnel Costs: Personnel costs include expenses related to hiring, compensating, training or retaining staff.
• Facility Fees, Maintenance and Improvements: Programs may use grant funds for expenses required to pay for, maintain or improve their facilities.
• COVID-19 Safety-Related Needs: Programs may use grant funds to purchase, replenish or update equipment and supplies used in response to COVID-19.
• Goods and Services Necessary to Resume and Strengthen Operations: Programs may use grant funds for expenses that support them in maintaining or resuming full operations, as well as making investments in goods and services that strengthen their programs for the long-term.
• Mental Health Supports for Children and Employees: Programs may use grant funds to support costs related to the mental health and well-being of their children and employees.
• Health and Safety Training: Programs may use grant funds for costs associated with training staff in health and safety measures.

Post-award, technical assistance will help you consider how you can invest funds for the greatest impact and support any reporting or tracking needs or questions you may have. It will also give you the opportunity to learn from other programs of similar type, size and situation. Technical assistance includes support that could encompass trainings (online or in person), resources (job aids), coaching (onsite and/or virtual), program assessment tools and peer-to-peer learning opportunities.

Your Grant Expense Report will ask for the total dollar amount of grant funds spent per allowable expense category. Receipts and documentation are not required, though federal law requires you to keep them on file for five years.

Yes, financial consultation is permitted.

Your Build, Learn, Grow Stabilization payment will be deposited to your account in a one-time payment aligned to CCDF payment schedule. Learn how to check for your payment on HoosierChildCare.com here.

Programs (excluding LEAs) must invest at least 25% of grant funds toward increasing staff wages and benefits. You may invest the other 75% in a single category if you believe it to be the best use of your grant funds.

OECOSL will give providers leniency in making these types of changes so long as the higher-priority need falls within the allowable expense category.

An employee is anyone who is on payroll working in your program.

If you work for a center or ministry then you should count yourself. If you are reporting for a FCCH the homeowner/licensee should not be included as an employee.

Reporting grant expenditures is quick and simple. Reference the step-by-step Grant Expense Reporting Guide.

Awarded providers must submit grant expense reports every quarter.

Yes, you still need to submit a grant expense report, even if your expenditures have not changed.

SPARK Learning Lab can help. Contact the SPARK Help Desk at (800) 299-1627, via email at help@indianaspark.com, or through live chat on indianaspark.com or in My SPARK Learning Lab.

For help completing your grant report, review the step-by-step Grant Expense Reporting Guide or contact the SPARK Help Desk at (800) 299-1627, via email at help@indianaspark.com, or through live chat on indianaspark.com or in My SPARK Learning Lab.

If you fail to report expenditures on a timely basis, you will be ineligible for future Build, Learn, Grow initiatives.

If you do not use all of your grant funds, you must return any unspent funds to OECOSL.

Awarded programs have until Sept. 30, 2023, to spend grant funds.

No provider-level information is being shared with the federal government. Only required information will be shared.

The questions asked and provider information provided inform the cost estimation model, which produces the grant award amount. Individual program data will not be published in any way, but aggregated data will help to inform changes to the state’s cost model and future reimbursement structures.

Like other states, Indiana intends to use aggregated data collected through the grant program to expand the findings of the recently conducted Narrow Cost Analysis and to ultimately reassess and make updates to the state’s cost model and future reimbursement structures.

No. OECOSL will not be publishing the grant recipients nor the data they provide as part of the application.

Most funding application data is classified as public data, and if requested, must be made available to the person requesting it. Examples of private data that cannot be shared with the public are an individual’s Social Security information and data that can potentially identify children in programs. If you have data-related inquiries, please contact oecoslproviderinquiry@fssa.in.gov.