Strategy and innovation for an equitable early childhood field

Hi, I’m Chelsea. I develop practical solutions that make life easier for child care providers and families.

I love diving into complex policies and systems to spot patterns, fill critical gaps, and advance systemic change.

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About me

I'm passionate about fair pay for caregivers, effective government funding systems, sustainable child care business models, and accessible technology to support these goals.

Career highlights include:

  • I co-founded and led Pie for Providers, a technology nonprofit that increased child care providers’ subsidy revenue by 30%, by simplifying complex compliance rules.

  • When Pie for Providers was acquired by Lillio (formerly HiMama), I became Lillio’s first policy leader, launching its first state partnership.

  • At Promise Venture Studio, a field-building nonprofit, I helped launch new program areas by building partnerships with social entrepreneurs, funders, and public sector leaders.

When not nerding out on early childhood policy, I’m in Chicago or nearby nature with my husband and two young children—ideally with a bike, a book, or a local IPA.

Let’s work together

I'm available for remote or Chicago-based consulting, advisory, or full-time roles.

Within early care and education, my areas of expertise include:

  • Government systems modernization

  • Child care management software

  • Federal and state funding streams (e.g. CCDF)

  • Child care business & operations

  • Family child care

Potential projects include:

  • Strategic planning 

  • Program and product development 

  • Community systems development

  • Human centered design research

  • Process mapping

  • Policy analysis

  • Market analysis 

  • Project management

  • Grant writing

  • And more…

See an opportunity to collaborate? Let’s talk!

Email
csprayregen@gmail.com

LinkedIn

Recent Projects

Scaling Solutions for the Childcare Crisis: Technology and Shared Services

As Entrepreneur in Residence at Promise Venture studio, I collaborated with leading early childhood practitioners to develop a strategy for integrated state technology ecosystems. This webinar summarizes the key ideas behind this work.

Subsidy Billing Service

Pie for Providers’ subsidy billing service helped child care providers claim 30% more funding from government child care subsidies. As CEO & Co-founder, I led the development of this service.

Show & Tell: Innovation in Child Care

I led the launch of Promise Venture Studio’s now signature Show & Tell demo series. I also hosted the child care-focused event in the series. 

Additional proprietary projects

  • 50-state policy tracker - helped an early childhood tech company track key state level policies and programs regarding child care technology to drive company strategy 

  • State prioritization framework - helped an early childhood tech company identify high priority markets based on comprehensive policy and market data