As part of its investments in early childhood learning and development, the Packard Foundation has been supporting family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) care providers who play an important role in helping young children be healthy, ready for school, and on track to reach their full potential. We do this through a variety of tactics that seek to understand and strengthen FFN care, including research, grantmaking, and the development of a learning network for grantee organizations who work with FFN care providers.

This report looks at the formation and current status of the FFN Learning Community Network, a nascent collaborative of 19 organizations supporting FFN care, and offers up insights from participant feedback on two key questions: 1) What are the interests, needs, and motivations of participants to continue to meet as an FFN Learning Community Network? 2) How can the FFN Learning Community Network be strengthened and sustained?

The report is the result of Foundation efforts to not only understand the FFN care landscape but also to strengthen the connection, capacity, and learnings among FFN care organizations so that they can, in turn, support FFN caregivers in providing the best possible care for young children. We hope that the findings and recommendations offered here will be helpful in encouraging other funders to explore more investment in FFN care and the potential for FFN learning communities and networks to strengthen outcomes in early child learning and development.