SMALL INVESTMENTS, BIG IMPACT
For Brittany Johnston, caring for young children in a home-based setting has always felt
personal. Long before she became the founder and owner of Rainbow Club Preschool—and a 2025 Early Childhood Champion Award recipient—Brittany experienced a family child care from the other side. Growing up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, she attended a family child care home from birth through age 5 and developed a lasting relationship with her caregiver.
“I feel so connected to the woman who cared for me,” Brittany said. “We stayed in touch with her until she passed.”
Years later, after becoming an elementary school teacher, Brittany found herself drawn back to that model of care. She had always imagined opening a home-based child care program once she had children of her own. After teaching abroad in her 20s, she returned to the United States during the COVID pandemic. In 2021, rather than going back into a public school classroom, she decided it was time to give her dream a try. With support from grants that helped with startup costs, Rainbow Club Preschool was born.
Today, what Brittany values most about her family child care home is the close relationships she's able to build with children and their families over several years.
“It’s a real privilege to be such a big part of their and their families’ lives during such an important time,” she said. “It’s been really fun to watch families grow, and now I am six years into the business and starting to get younger siblings of my alumni. I really love the intimacy that comes with having a small program.”
Technology That Makes the Day-to-Day Easier
Running a family child care home (FCCH) program involves much more than caring for and teaching children. FCCH providers are also small business owners who are responsible for everything from billing and family communication to administrative work, technology, and safety.
Over the past few years, Brittany has received three rounds of technology funding from NoCo Kids Thrive to help meet some of those needs.
Her first investment was a new desktop computer. At the time, Brittany was relying on an aging personal laptop for administrative work. Rather than requiring her to purchase a particular computer, NoCo Kids Thrive allowed Brittany to select the equipment that worked best for her.
“I have always been a Mac user, so while their funds only covered about half of the desktop, it was helpful that they let me purchase that and use the funds toward that purchase instead of pigeonholing me into a certain product,” she said.
The upgrade did more than replace an old computer. It created a more functional workspace for Brittany and her staff, making administrative work more efficient.
A second round of funding helped reimburse Rainbow Club Preschool for its annual Brightwheel subscription, the student management platform Brittany has used for five years to manage billing and to communicate with families. She used additional funds to purchase a new printer and wireless mouse.
For a small business, those seemingly simple purchases can make a meaningful difference.
“[NoCo Kids Thrive] providing reimbursement helped alleviate overall financial strains,” Brittany said. “I had been going to the library every time I needed to print something, so having a printer at home is very convenient and saves time.”
Supporting Growth and Safety
As Rainbow Club Preschool grew, Brittany opened two additional rooms in her home for her FCCH program. With that expansion came a need for additional monitoring and safety equipment.
Through another round of NoCo Kids Thrive funding, she purchased new Eufy cameras for the two spaces, along with a video doorbell and a monitor that allows her to view multiple cameras around the property at once.
“It’s so helpful to have better monitoring and a viewing platform around the whole property,” Brittany said.
Creating Efficiencies, Connecting Better with Families and Children
The technology investments may be relatively small individually, but together they have helped Brittany create efficiencies, strengthen safety, support her staff, and reduce some of the financial pressure that comes with operating a FCCH business.
Just as importantly, Brittany appreciated having the flexibility to determine what her program actually needed rather than receiving a one-size-fits-all solution.
“[NoCo Kids Thrive] has always been extremely efficient in responding to questions, releasing checks, and providing guidance and support,” she said. “I am really grateful for the upgrades we have made with their funding!”
Brittany is one of 22 licensed FCCH providers who received small-scale technology support from NoCo Kids Thrive this past year to improve the quality of their programs and daily operations.
For providers like Brittany, having access to flexible resources means being able to truly make a difference where it’s needed most. And, it often creates space for them to dedicate more of their time and energy to doing what brought them to this work in the first place: building lasting connections with children and families.
Learn more about resources, scholarships, salary subsidies, trainings, and more available from NoCo Kids Thrive at EducatorsThriveFund.org
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