Mayor Bowser Announces $32 Million Program to Improve Child Care Supply and Help Families Return to Work

(Washington, DC) At present, Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Workplace of the State Superintendent of Schooling introduced $32 million in Again-to-Work Little one Care grants meant to assist DC licensed little one care services resume and keep full operations as they recuperate from the pandemic and allow households, notably girls, to seek out the kid care they should return to work. The Low Revenue Funding Fund (LIIF) has been chosen to manage the brand new program that may help pandemic restoration and enhance entry to look after households within the District. 

“We all know that ladies left the workforce in giant numbers, right here in DC and nationally, because the starting of the pandemic and have struggled to return. We additionally know that for a lot of girls, notably girls of coloration, entry to high-quality, inexpensive little one care will be the figuring out consider re-entering the workforce,” mentioned Mayor Bowser. “With DC now totally open, this funding will be certain that extra working households, notably girls, can return to work by bettering the variety of high-quality little one care slots within the District.”

The Again-to-Work Little one Care Grant will present monetary help to protect the availability of kid care in neighborhoods most impacted by the pandemic and offset prices for applications to renew working at full capability, opening and preserving further slots for households in want of care. The grant program can even help affordability, prioritizing suppliers who serve kids taking part within the District’s little one care subsidy program.

All through the pandemic, the District has continued to make main investments in stabilizing the sector, and right this moment, greater than 90 p.c of kid improvement services District-wide are open and the variety of licensed little one care slots is larger than earlier than the beginning of the pandemic. Nonetheless, little one care applications face hardships on account of monetary losses sustained throughout the public well being emergency, elevated operational prices, and a aggressive labor market. Consequently, little one care enrollment stays beneath pre-pandemic numbers regardless of important household wants for little one care. 

Because the begin of the pandemic, almost 70% of the roles that had been misplaced had been held by girls, in accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), due partially to entry to little one care. And, regardless of sturdy good points over the previous 4 months, web jobs held by girls are nonetheless down greater than 829,000 in comparison with pre-pandemic ranges. The Bowser Administration’s investments will increase entry to inexpensive, high-quality little one care and make it doable for extra DC residents to return to work.

“For DC households to return to work, we should guarantee each little one has entry to protected, nurturing and high-quality care choices,” State Superintendent Dr. Christina Grant mentioned. “The Again-to-Work Little one Care Grant will develop the availability and enhance the affordability of kid care within the District. This grant program, coupled with Mayor Bowser’s historic investments in early care and training, will assist put our metropolis, and our littlest learners, on a trajectory for achievement.”

LIIF will get up and administer the grant program, awarding subgrants to little one improvement applications. Along with monetary help, LIIF will present subgrantees enterprise helps to boost advertising and marketing, enrollment, payment assortment, enterprise effectivity and adapt their enterprise fashions to new realities and household wants. Roughly $7.9 million might be awarded within the first grant yr, with $15.8 million and $8.3 million allotted for the second and third grant years, respectively. 

Along with the Again to Work Little one Care Grant, the District is offering important monetary reduction to the kid care sector in Fiscal Yr 2022 (FY22), together with:

• The DC Little one Care Stabilization Grant, a $38 million program funded by federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds, which is at present within the means of distributing funds to greater than 430 licensed little one improvement facility within the District; 
• The Entry to High quality Little one Care Grant, a $10 million program, additionally administered by LIIF, that may enhance the availability of kid care companies for infants and toddlers by offering grants to little one improvement services to increase, open and enhance new and present little one improvement services.
• Elevated subsidy cost charges for little one improvement services taking part within the District’s little one care subsidy program, to replicate the elevated prices to ship little one care and keep a provide of inexpensive look after low-income households throughout the pandemic restoration. 

“The COVID-19 pandemic shined a lightweight on the crucial function little one care performs in thriving financial system,” Laura Jackman, deputy director of early care and training at LIIF, mentioned. “LIIF has administered a number of grant applications in partnership with OSSE to make sure households have entry to the care they should return to work and little one care applications have the help they should function. We’re thrilled to proceed our work collectively in help of DC’s kids, households and the kid care sector.”

These investments construct on greater than $50 million in monetary reduction that the District distributed to little one care suppliers with federal and native funds earlier within the COVID-19 pandemic. The District has averted the large-scale lack of little one care seen in different states on account of these substantial investments. These further investments will be certain that the District’s little one care sector recovers stronger than ever.

Extra info on the Again-to-Work Little one Care Grant program might be shared on OSSE’s web site because it turns into accessible at osse.dc.gov.  

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