Grants for Investments for Additional Places in Child Day Care Facilities and Child Day Care (Investment Guideline Child Day Care)

The funding program is primarily aimed at municipalities and municipal associations in North Rhine-Westphalia that act as public youth welfare agencies. They are required to pass on the received funding to child day care facilities and child day care providers to achieve the overarching goal of creating and maintaining childcare places for children up to school entry or under three years of age.

Various investment measures in child day care facilities and child day care that serve the creation or maintenance of childcare places are funded. This includes new construction, extensions, and conversions, renovations, as well as the initial equipping of rooms and plots. Land acquisition is excluded from funding.

Funding is provided in the form of grants, which are awarded either as co-financing or as fixed-sum financing. The amount of funding is tied to specific maximum amounts per place, varying according to the type of measure and area of child day care.

Funding is subject to specific conditions concerning both the type of facility and the qualifications of day care providers. Important provisions also include the exclusion of land acquisition and parental contributions as own contributions, as well as requirements for earmarking and inventorying.

The application process requires Youth Welfare Offices to apply for funding from the responsible state youth welfare offices. Specific deadlines and detailed documents must be adhered to. Approval is granted at the discretion of the authorities and within the framework of available budget funds.

The funding program is based on the Investment Guideline Child Day Care, a circular decree from the Ministry for Children, Youth, Family, Equality, Refugees and Integration. It is supplemented by further state and federal legal provisions such as the State Budget Ordinance, the Children's Education Act, and the Eighth Book of the Social Code.