Every year we count what we do. This year we also wanted to say what it adds up to. Clarendon’s Impact Report for 2025–2026 is out, and it lays out the scale of our family child care network across Massachusetts — and, more importantly, what that scale makes possible for the children, families and educators in it.

As the report puts it: the numbers tell us how many people we reach, and the stories tell us why that reach matters.

Our impact at a glance

• 305 affiliated family child care educators
• ~1,500 children receiving year-round care
• 6,790 children served through the Child and Adult Care Food Program
• 905 family child care programs participating in CACFP
• ~800 children transported daily
• $20 million+ in state reimbursement passed through to educators

What this means for children and families

Access to child care is about far more than a seat. It is about stability, continuity, safety, nutrition, transportation, and the confidence a family needs to work or study.

A child who stays with a trusted educator from infancy through the school-age years gets something that is hard to manufacture: continuity, and a relationship with an adult who genuinely knows them. For children who have lived through significant stress or trauma, that consistency matters even more. And a parent who knows their child is safe, fed and reliably transported can get on with work or school.

Clarendon primarily serves families who qualify for child care subsidies or who receive support through the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, including families facing serious economic and personal challenges.

Strengthening the family child care workforce

Family child care educators are small-business owners and essential members of their communities. Clarendon provides the administrative, financial and operational infrastructure that helps them keep those businesses running.

The $20 million+ in state-funded reimbursement we administer goes directly to educators. That reliable income is what makes their programs financially sustainable — it supports their own families and builds real economic stability. Many of the educators we work with are women and people of color, and are often heads of household.

Working with United Way and other foundations, we have also trained and equipped more than 50 women to launch their own family child care businesses, expanding the supply of care for hundreds of families.

An educator running a successful home-based program is not just employing herself. She is providing the community resource that lets other parents go to work.

Investing in educators

• 45+ hours of training offered annually
• 1,535 educators completing courses in our learning management system
• 10,994 courses completed

Our online learning platform was built specifically for family child care educators, so they can take meaningful professional development on their own schedules and in the language they prefer — training is offered in English, Spanish and Portuguese, and professional learning is extended to parents as well.

The goal was never simply more training. It is a stronger workforce with more knowledge, more confidence, and more capacity to deliver high-quality care.

Showing up when families need us most

Community needs do not always fit neatly inside a funding category. When they don’t, we respond anyway:

• Emergency Family Fund — immediate help when a family or educator hits an unexpected crisis, such as losing a home to fire.
• Holiday Toy Drive — so children get the joy and connection of the holidays.
• Comfort Kits — familiar, reassuring items for children entering foster care during a hard transition.
• Responsive professional learning — training that evolves with the community, including recent sessions addressing immigration-related concerns.

Listening, learning and adapting

Family needs change as children grow. Roughly 30% of school-age children in our network leave their family child care program when they start school, even though they remain eligible for child care financial assistance. That is a gap in the continuum of care, and a signal that more school-age options are needed.

We are actively looking at what those children and families need next, and at sustainable ways to meet it. We do not assume that today’s solutions will fit tomorrow’s needs.

Measuring what matters

We track enrollment and retention, continuity of care, access to financial assistance, transportation and nutrition participation, developmental referrals, educator retention and professional development, home visits, and feedback from families and educators — alongside child care capacity, service demand, financial performance and compliance.

The numbers demonstrate reach, accountability and stewardship. But the impact is what those numbers make possible: children experiencing stability, parents pursuing work and education with confidence, and educators sustaining businesses that widen access to care.

A strong foundation for what comes next

Clarendon’s operating revenue grew from roughly $14 million in FY2022 to $35 million in FY2025 as we expanded our child care and nutrition programs — evidence that we can turn public and philanthropic resources into expanded access and stronger services while holding onto quality and accountability.

Restricted funding delivers our contracted services. Flexible, general operating support is what lets us strengthen the workforce, respond to emerging needs, and improve services that cross program boundaries. A flexible investment in Clarendon is an investment in the infrastructure, relationships and people that make quality care possible.

Looking ahead

The needs of children and families will keep evolving, and our job is to evolve with them. We will carry on strengthening the family child care workforce, expanding access to quality care, supporting family economic stability, and investing in professional development across Massachusetts.

Children and families are at the heart of our work.

Read the full Impact Report 2025–2026 (PDF)