Acre Family Day Care

Acre Family Day Care was begun in 1988 as a project of the Coalition for a Better Acre. The program was developed in response to two related community needs: jobs and child care.  The results of a community-wide survey concluded that it would be better to train local residents to work as family child care providers than to have the agency open a child care center, because a network of family child care homes would not have the physical space limitations of a child care center.

The program has a “trickle-down” effect in the community:  the family child care providers, themselves, earn a living wage and are able to stay at home with their own young children if necessary; at the same time, they offer child care to the community so that other parents can work or attend job training programs.  Acre Family Day Care became an independent agency in 1992.  Though “Acre” remains part of its name, it serves the entire city of Lowell.

Acre Family Day Care provides training programs in English, Spanish and Khmer that enable women to run licensed family child care businesses in their own homes.  The training program begins with an initial three-month session and builds a career ladder through “Benchmarks for Child Care Quality” workshops and professional development opportunities such as the Child Development Associate credential and Accreditation through the National Association for Family Child Care.  Acre also has a business loan program that gives small business loans of up to $3,000 for child care business renovations, equipment, or higher education.

Why choose Acre?
Acre is a not-for-profit, community-based agency. Our mission is to meet the needs of children and the family child care providers who care for them. Acre Family Day Care has a reputation unmatched by other family child care agencies. Our programs have received state and national recognition. Are you a parent in need of child care? Acre’s licensed family child care providers care for children in their homes, all over Lowell, so hours and days are flexible

Providers and staff speak Spanish, Khmer, Vietnamese, Portuguese and English. Acre has mini-buses to pick up your child in the morning and bring them home in the afternoon. Providers serve family-style meals in a comfortable home environment/

The key to Acre’s success is that after training family child care providers, the agency contracts with them to provide child care for 300 low-income children from the Greater Lowell area every day.  The Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care contracts with Acre to offer subsidized child care to lower-income families, and, with these funds, Acre pays the family child care providers directly.
The children receive quality care in a licensed home where the child care provider speaks the family’s native language (Spanish, English or Khmer) and has access to Acre’s technical assistance and small business support system. 

Acre monitors the quality of care provided to the community through home visits from our staff child care specialists, and offers the services of a licensed social worker for further family support.  Acre’s staff reflects the community—our Spanish, Cambodian, Portuguese and English-speaking staff is able to address client’s linguistic and cultural needs.