That one question above started a conversation that ended up creating Maryland's first staffed network devoted exclusively to supporting and advancing family child care. In 2018, a group of family care providers and advocates got together to discuss a bold idea, to create a service organization that was built for family child care, by family child care, and governed by family child care. The group included former state association officers, a professor from Montgomery College professor, a public policy expert from Maryland Family Network, a curriculum expert from Teaching Strategies, two attorneys, active and retired family child care providers, and the former Chief Executive officer for the National Association for Family Child Care.

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After several organizational meetings, the Family Child Care Alliance of Maryland (the Alliance) was incorporated in the fall of 2019 as Maryland’s first Staffed Family Child Care Network. True to the desire to be governed by family child care, the original board of directors included five active family child care providers and three former providers.

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In the winter of 2020, the Alliance had a committed board, a bold vision…and $800.00 in the bank. A proposal for creating a pilot network using PDG Birth to Five grant dollars wasn’t funded and the board had to figure out what to do next. In the spring of 2020, the Alliance began conversations with staff from the Maryland State Department of Education about how to use the Alliance to expand FCC participation in the state’s Pre-K program. In less than 90 days, the Alliance designed a PreK program for family child care providers and presented the plan to the state. The project was funded that summer and the pilot for what eventually became the ASPIRE PreK program was born.