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Wolf announces additional funding for child care providers

4 min read
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Gov. Tom Wolf on Monday announced $53 million in additional financial support for child care providers that have suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This funding will help child care providers bridge the gap until their clientele returns,” Wolf said. “It will also help them with any increased costs that have been incurred due to the pandemic – things like cleaning and sanitization, which will help keep the 386,000 children who attend our licensed child care facilities safe, as well as the workers who do so much to care for them.”

In June, the Wolf Administration distributed $51 million in CARES Act Child Care Development Funds to eligible child care providers.

The $53 million announced Monday is also from CARES Act funding and will be distributed this month. Another $116 million from Act 24 will be distributed in the coming months, bringing the total sum of financial support to $220 million.

The funding is distributed through the Department of Human Services’ (DHS) Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL), which licenses child care providers in the state and is working with Penn State Harrisburg’s Institute of State and Regional Affairs on an impact study to understand challenges for child care providers reopening and resuming operations during COVID-19.

OCDEL had 7,017 licensed child care providers as of June 24, and 65 have permanently closed. Based on participation in the June CARES Act distribution, slightly more than 100 additional providers have declined funds indicating they intend to remain closed.

Donna Shriver has owned SmartKids Child Care and Learning Center in Washington for nearly 25 years, and isn’t sure her business will survive COVID.

“I don’t know how we are going to make it,” said Shriver, citing additional expenses, including cleaning and sanitizing products and personal protective gear, while operating at low capacity and potentially losing employees if they are forced to quarantine. “As a child care provider, you don’t have very much extra money, and with these extra expenses and uncertainty, it’s unbearable.”

The Penn State study highlights the various operational and financial impacts child care providers have endured and will continue to endure throughout the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Based on the preliminary findings of the study, distributing stimulus funds in July is crucial to ensure adequate capacity is available in the future. Data collected through this study will be used to help determine allocation of the remaining $116 million.

“While we do not know how this pandemic will look in a week, a month, or a year, we know that a healthy, robust child care system will be critical to weather the economic recovery ahead,” DHS Secretary Teresa Miller said. “This study will capture experiences and challenges child care providers have endured since COVID-19 arose in Pennsylvania and will allow us to direct additional funds how and where our child care providers need them most. This industry is vital to both a healthy economy and our children’s futures, and we will not abandon our child care providers who dedicate their lives to our youngest Pennsylvanians, often at low pay and now, a risk to their health. We will be with you through the challenges to come.”

Wolf said stable, affordable, high-quality child care is an important piece of workforce development.

“In fact, my Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command Center identified it as one of the biggest hurdles to getting more Pennsylvanians into the workforce. As we continue to recover economically from this pandemic, we will need child care available so parents can resume working, or so they can attend training programs or job interviews,” he said.

Shriver said it’s hard to predict what will happen with day care businesses as COVID-19 continues through summer and into the fall, a busy time for her and other centers who regularly care for teachers’ children.

“We don’t know where we stand as a business. It’s rough,” she said. “i’m used to knowing what to expect and what to plan for.”

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