Dive Brief:

• Sam’s Club Giving Program is giving $500,000 to support day care businesses in low-income areas.

• The grant will go to First Children’s Finance, an organization that assists child care centers that aim to improve their early childhood education programs. The grant will pay for technical assistance, including business education and operational expenses.

• Most day care centers are run by women; some 90% of First Children’s Finance’s clients are women-owned child care businesses.

Dive Insight:

As the debate around affordable childcare services finds its way into political sphere, Sam's Club is smart to show its support for those businesses in low income areas. Sam's Club opened in 1983, and says its first member was a woman who owned a day care business. More recently, the retailer has conducted research that found that many of its members are women running small businesses and micro-businesses.