Greater Twin Cities United Way is a long-standing supporter of early childhood education. Through continuing partnerships like our multiyear investments in local nonprofits, our advocacy efforts at the State Capitol and our systems change initiatives like 80×3: Resilient from the Start, our core belief is that all children in our state need – and deserve – a great start.
One key resource that makes this possible is our state’s Early Learning Scholarship (ELS) program, overseen by the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF). These scholarships are designed for children and families who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access quality early learning and child care – supporting families who are low-income or who experience foster care, and prioritizing those impacted by circumstances like substance use, incarceration or domestic violence.
I’m excited to share that in 2024, Greater Twin Cities United Way entered into a new partnership with the Department of Children, Youth & Families to help make important improvements to the Early Learning Scholarship program model – one which builds on our deep engagement with the early childhood sector and our unique administrative capabilities. Keep reading to learn more.
Last year, over 16,000 children across the state received Early Learning Scholarships to access high quality child care and early education – a 31 percent increase over the previous year. To access scholarship funding, child care providers complete an invoicing process to receive direct payments from DCYF for child care services provided to families who have been awarded Early Learning Scholarships.
Many providers struggled with this invoice and billing process. Until 2024, these functions were divided among multiple organizations representing different regions of the state. Programs and providers often had to send invoices to multiple area administrators for payments, and area administrators differed in their processes and procedures, which created additional complications for providers.
Based on recommendations from the Great Start for All Minnesota Children Task Force and following engagement with administrators and providers, DCYF opted to centralize this invoice and billing administrative function under one roof. Beginning with the state’s 2025 fiscal year (effective July 1, 2024), Greater Twin Cities United Way entered a new role as the state’s Central Payment Administrator – providing a single, unified payment processing experience for all child care providers statewide.
“We strive for continuous improvement in the early learning scholarship program, and feedback from early care and education programs and providers showed the need for a central payment administrator,” said DCYF Commissioner Tikki Brown. “This centralized approach will increase efficiencies and reduce administrative burden for the program, which means providers spend more time with children and less time on paperwork.”
This partnership draws on many of our existing strengths as an organization. Among organizations working in early childhood education in our state, Greater Twin Cities United Way has a uniquely deep body of experience in managing the kinds of payment processing and financial tracking systems required for this role.
This, plus our record of success managing high-volume services like the 211 resource helpline and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, made Greater Twin Cities United Way a natural partner to ensure efficient and effective payment processing for Minnesota’s child care providers.
This new role has represented a significant investment for Greater Twin Cities United Way – one that is already making a positive impact for providers and families in our state.
Since last year, we’ve hired a new team of 15 staff entirely dedicated to processing Early Learning Scholarship invoices. Each provider and program now has a dedicated billing specialist, providing more personalized guidance and offering a straightforward point-of-contact when any questions arise.
Between July 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, we have successfully:
These efforts are translating to a streamlined experience for child care providers. As one provider told us in a recent partner survey, “[Our organization] used to bill to three entities. Sometimes a child would live in one county but attend a center in another; what that meant for us is that one classroom could have multiple different payment administrators. One billing entity is a BLESSING.”
We’re also excited to launch a new invoicing portal this spring, which will further streamline and simplify the process for our providers to submit and track invoices.
Beyond the immediate benefits to child care providers and families, this centralized approach also allows for more effective tracking and monitoring.
All of this work helps child care organizations more easily get resources to serve families and frees them up to spend more time with children rather than with administrative tasks.
Although our new Early Learning Scholarship partnership is fully funded by the state of Minnesota, we couldn’t have entered into this relationship without the support of Greater Twin Cities United Way donors. A gift to our Annual Fund helps ensure that we can continue to cultivate new and innovative partnerships to support families across our state.
With your help, we can continue to deepen our commitment to quality early childhood education. Join us, and help us ensure that all kids in our state have the great start they deserve.
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