Little Dipper Learning Center LLC

Little Dipper Learning Center LLC, a woman-owned small business based in North Pole, Alaska, operates exclusively as a sub-recipient in federal grant programs, with no prime contract or grant awardee footprint. The company is structured as a limited liability company sole proprietorship and competes entirely outside set-aside vehicles — all 59 recent awards are sub-awards under a single prime grant relationship.

The vendor's entire federal footprint is concentrated with the Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service, which funds 100% of recent awards. Little Dipper acts as a sub-recipient under the Education and Early Development Alaska Department of Education and Workforce Development prime grantee, participating exclusively in the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Sub-awards flow on a recurring monthly and bimonthly cadence, with the vendor receiving paired awards for program meals and cash-in-lieu reimbursement in alternating tranches. Recent award dates span September 2023 through May 2026, with representative sub-awards issued on May 22, 2026 (meals and cash-in-lieu), April 29, 2026 (meals and cash-in-lieu), February 28, 2026 (meals and cash-in-lieu), and January 30, 2026 (meals and cash-in-lieu).

Activity has grown from nine awards in 2023 to a peak of twenty-one in 2024, then moderated to seventeen in 2025 and twelve through May 2026, suggesting a stable underlying commitment with monthly or bimonthly billing cycles rather than project-based procurement swings. Combined dollars obligated across all fifty-nine awards total $186 thousand, indicating small individual award values consistent with child-care facility meal reimbursement and cash allowance distributions under the USDA program. The vendor's role is operationally narrow — serving as a federally funded child and adult care center receiving meal subsidies and cash allocations routed through Alaska's state educational authority rather than competing for contracts or broader grant opportunities. Decision-relevance for federal contractors evaluating Little Dipper would be limited unless pursuing early-childhood-education or nutrition-program subcontracting in rural Alaska markets.