CEI’s Child Care Business Lab celebrates graduate achievements and invites hopeful child care providers to enroll in the 2026 cohort

In CEI FY 2025, Child Care Business Lab alumni opened 15 new child care services, caring for 377 children. Registrations for the 2026 program close on January 9.

BRUNSWICK — Now in its sixth year of helping people passionate about working with children and families open their own child care businesses, the Child Care Business Lab, a program of Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), is celebrating the opening of 15 new child care providers across the state and is seeking participants for its upcoming 2026 cohort.

CEI Child Care Business Lab graduates expand access to child care in their communities
From October 2024 to September 2025, CEI Child Care Business Lab alumni collectively opened 15 new licensed child care services for a total of 377 children across the state. Collectively, these companies cover eight counties, including one in Cumberland, Franklin, Hancock, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, four in York and five in Androscoggin. Since its launch in February 2020, the CEI Child Care Business Lab has supported the opening of 50 licensed child care centers for a total of 1,027 children.
What sets the CEI Child Care Business Lab apart from other similar programs across the country is that the programming is model agnostic and believes that what works in one community may not work for another community. Thus, eight of the newly opened providers are home-based, six are center-based and one is a nursery school. Child care centers have a wide range of owners, including individual entrepreneurs, multi-person cooperatives, nonprofit organizations, and tribal governments.

Child care business owners are driving change in their communities
For many CEI Child Care Business Lab participants, opening a daycare involves learning entirely new skills and navigating new processes. Katelyn Gervais of Jay, Maine, says, “The CEI Child Care Business Lab helped me realize that owning my own daycare can become a reality. I received help with many tasks, like making sure I had all the required documents for licensing, creating child care manuals, and even getting help getting a business loan to make my dreams come true! I have an open date for next year and I couldn’t be more excited to have gained the knowledge and connections I have with the CEI.”

Applications for the 2026 licensing program close January 9
All 15 companies completed the CEI Child Care Business Lab Get Licensed program. New child care entrepreneurs face the same challenges and risks as other small business owners, but with the added complexity of operating in a highly regulated environment. Child Care Business Lab: Get Licensed is a free group program that empowers entrepreneurs to open a successful child care business. In addition to preparing their license application, participants will write a business plan, three-year financial forecasts and child care policies. To support the financial viability of the new business, participants will also receive one-on-one, free and ongoing business advice. Individuals interested in opening a home child care business (family daycare) or a facility in a commercial space are both eligible to participate. Most workshops are held live via Zoom with two days of in-person learning.
Participants interested in obtaining their license can participate in the next Child Care Business Lab: Get Licensed cohort, beginning in April 2026. Interested participants must complete the program registration form at www.cognitoforms.com/CEIMaine/JoinCCBL by January 9, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. More information is available at https://www.ceimaine.org/child-care

About the CIS
Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) is a community development financial institution and 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that works to build a more equitable economy by expanding good jobs, livelihoods, and small business ownership, while fostering a just transition to a climate-resilient future. CEI integrates finance, business expertise and policy solutions in ways that make the economy more equitable.

CEI designed the Child Care Business Lab with assistance from Maine Roads to Quality, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Children and Family Services, Children’s Licensing and Investigation Services, and the Maine Association for the Education of Young Children. Over its 48-year history, CEI has advised and/or provided more than $19 million in financing to more than 300 child care businesses, helping to create or preserve more than 6,000 child care spaces.
For more information, visit www.ceimaine.org.