Request Childcare

Overview of How We Operate:

Philly Childcare Collective is a collective of people who provide free and donation-based childcare at meetings and events. 

We partner with grassroots groups led by low-income families and parents of color organizing campaigns for racial and economic justice. 

We ask organizations we work with to reserve a separate space from the meeting for childcare. We bring toys, games, coloring supplies and other items to provide a safe and fun space for kids. Occasionally, when we have capacity, we facilitate activities for kids related to the work their caretakers are engaging in.

You can read more about us and our Points of Unity here.

How We Process Requests:

We ask for four weeks’ notice for event requests from new groups to allow us time to assess the group and, if we move forward with working together, to coordinate childcare. 

After we receive a request, our coordinators will evaluate how the group meets our guidelines (see below), as well as their needs and our capacity. A PCC coordinator will respond to tell the group what level of support we can offer. If we are coordinating childcare, we will confirm details with you about the event and send an e-mail to our members to see who is available. 

Please allow up to two weeks for a response after completing this form, as we need to prioritize ongoing work before we respond to new requests.

In 2024 we are still rebuilding our capacity after ceasing providing childcare at the onset of the pandemic. Unfortunately, we do not have capacity to provide childcare at every event we'd like to support, we appreciate your understanding.

Eligibility Guidelines

We support grassroots groups that are led by low-income and/or of color parents who are part of campaigns for racial and economic justice. We support groups whose membership would be unable to access childcare through other means. Below are some definitions and examples to give context to some of the words we use in our guidelines.

Grassroots: Local, self-organized, supports members to take action for their community, not affiliated with a political party or candidate. A more explicit definition can be found here.

Led by low-income and/or of color parents: Leaders in the group identify as Black, Brown, Indigenous, Person of Color, etc and/or as low-income and are parents/grandparents/guardians of children. Members would face significant difficulties securing childcare on their own and the group cannot afford childcare collectively.

Campaigns for racial and economic justice: We interpret “campaign” broadly. Some examples are:

• a group using strategy and tactics to demand something specific from a powerful entity

• an economically or racially marginalized group of people learning skills to empower their communities

• people who are not economically or racially marginalized learning skills to act as allies/accomplices to marginalized communities