Ravalli Child Care Advantage
A Shared Solution for Child Care in Ravalli County
A Community Approach to Child Care
Child care is essential to the strength of our families, workforce, and community. Ravalli Child Care Advantage (RCCA) brings families, businesses, early childhood professionals, and community partners together to strengthen child care across Ravalli County.
Developed by the Bitterroot Early Childhood Coalition and led by Bitterroot Early Learning Network (BELN), RCCA treats child care as essential community infrastructure—not something families, providers, or businesses should have to navigate alone.
What Does RCCA Mean For You?
Why RCCA?
Finding child care shouldn’t be a challenge that families face alone.
Businesses depend on employees who can find reliable care. Early childhood professionals need sustainable systems and strong community partnerships. Families deserve a simpler way to navigate their options.
Rather than addressing these challenges separately, RCCA brings everyone together around one shared goal: a stronger child care system for Ravalli County.
Through collaboration, shared resources, and community partnerships, RCCA is working to make child care easier to navigate while strengthening the systems that support children and families.
How RCCA Connects Our Community
Every part of our community plays a role in strengthening child care.
Businesses depend on a reliable workforce. When employees have dependable child care, businesses benefit from improved recruitment, retention, attendance, and productivity.
Early Childhood professionals create the caring, educational environments where children learn, grow, and thrive while supporting families throughout our community.
Families need reliable, high-quality child care so parents and caregivers can work, attend school, and provide stable, nurturing environments for their children.
Together, we can build a stronger child care system that benefits children, families, employers, providers, and the future of Ravalli County.
For Businesses - Support Your Employees. Strengthen Your Workforce.
Child care is more than a family issue—it’s a workforce issue.
When employees struggle to find reliable child care, businesses often experience increased absenteeism, turnover, recruitment challenges, and reduced productivity.
RCCA provides businesses with a meaningful way to support employees while investing in a stronger local child care system.
Business Members Can:
- Provide employees with an additional child care resource
- Support employee recruitment and retention
- Help employees navigate child care options
- Invest in a stronger local workforce
- Strengthen child care across Ravalli County
Business Membership:
Business memberships are designed to scale based on the size of your workforce, making participation accessible to businesses of all sizes.
Membership rates are currently being finalized. During our pilot year, we’re working alongside participating businesses to develop a sustainable membership model that reflects the needs of employers and our community.
Become A Community Investor:
Not every business needs an employee child care benefit but every business benefits from a strong local workforce.
Businesses can also support RCCA as Community Investors, helping strengthen child care across Ravalli County and investing in the future of our community.
For Early Childhood Professionals - Building a Stronger Child Care System Together
Early childhood professionals are the foundation of a strong child care system. RCCA is designed to strengthen connections between providers, families, businesses, and community partners while making it easier for families to find quality care.
By participating in RCCA, providers become part of a county-wide effort to improve access to child care and strengthen the early childhood system throughout Ravalli County.
Through RCCA, providers can:
- Connect with families searching for child care
- Participate in a shared enrollment and waitlist system
- Increase visibility within the community
- Strengthen partnerships with local businesses
- Connect with resources and community initiatives
- Help shape the future of child care in Ravalli County
As RCCA continues to grow, we’ll continue expanding opportunities and resources that support providers and strengthen our local child care network.
For Families - Finding Child Care Doesn't Have to Feel Overwhelming
Searching for child care can involve multiple phone calls, long waitlists, and uncertainty about where to begin. RCCA helps simplify the process by connecting families with participating child care providers through a shared enrollment and waitlist system.
Whether you’re looking for infant care, preschool, or another early childhood program, RCCA provides a central place to begin your search.
Through RCCA, families can:
- Explore participating child care providers
- Learn about available programs and services
- Join the shared enrollment and waitlist portal
- Connect with participating providers
- Access additional family resources through BELN
Need Additional Support?
Finding child care is only one part of supporting your family. BELN offers free family support to help you navigate local resources, connect with services, and answer questions about child care and early childhood programs.
RCCA's Pilot-Year
RCCA is currently partnering with a select group of businesses and participating child care providers as we launch the program across Ravalli County. This pilot year allows us to gather feedback, refine the model, and build a sustainable system that will continue to grow and serve our community.
We’re grateful to the local businesses helping launch RCCA. Their investment supports employees, families, and a stronger child care system for Ravalli Co
Why Child Care Is a Community Investment
Child care is more than a family issue—it’s a community issue. When families have access to reliable child care, children thrive, parents can participate in the workforce, businesses can retain employees, and early childhood professionals can continue providing the care our community depends on.
The demand for child care continues to outpace availability across Montana and Ravalli County.
- 80% of Montana parents participate in the labor force.
- Only 34% of the demand for child care for children under six is currently being met in Ravalli County.
- For children under two, that number drops to just 24%.
- 71% of Montanans are concerned about the cost of child care.
The first five years of life are critical to a child’s development. Ninety percent of the brain develops before age five, making access to quality early childhood experiences one of the best investments we can make.
Research shows that every $1 invested in high-quality early childhood programs can generate up to $16 in long-term returns, benefiting children, families, businesses, and our local economy.
Through Ravalli Child Care Advantage, we’re bringing businesses, families, early childhood professionals, and community partners together to strengthen child care and build a stronger future for Ravalli County.
Strong Communities Start with Strong Child Care
A strong child care system doesn’t happen by chance—it happens when families, businesses, early childhood professionals, and community partners work together.
Ravalli Child Care Advantage is creating a more connected child care system that helps children thrive, supports working families, strengthens local businesses, and empowers early childhood professionals.
No matter your role, you can help build a stronger future for children and families in Ravalli County.
Montana faces significant challenges with child care shortages. Over 59% of counties are classified as child care deserts, where the supply meets less than a third of the demand. The lack of affordable, high-quality child care impacts Montana’s workforce, costing businesses nearly $55 million annually due to lower productivity, increased turnover, and recruitment challenges. This shortage limits workforce participation, particularly among parents, who struggle to find child care to support full-time employment. Not to mention what the lack of early childhood experiences does for kindergarten readiness, third grade scores, and ultimately our next generation of leaders.
