With funding and support from Louisville Metro’s Office for Women, nonprofits in Louisville are helping immigrant and refugee women meet the need for child care in their communities. The Strengthening the Village project launched in 2023 with a $10,000 grant from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Since then, 18 women from Cuba and the Democratic Republic of Congo have opened certified child care businesses. Four other women from Rwanda are in the process of earning their state certifications.
Gretchen Hunt, director of the Office for Women, said Louisville doesn’t have enough affordable, accessible child care to meet families’ needs. And she said immigrant and refugee families face even more barriers.
“You may have a number of barriers because of language, because of culture, because of transportation,” she said. “You may often work in a job that’s maybe third shift, so it’s harder to find child care.”
Hunt said these families also struggle to find child care that is “culturally and linguistically accessible to them.”