ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York State will administer nearly $1.1 billion in federal funding to child care providers. It is the largest single investment in child care in state history.
The funding aims to stabilise the industry by replenishing losses experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and enable parents to return to the workplace fulltime. The funding comes from the American Rescue Plan Act and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act.
"Stabilizing the child care industry is critical to New York's economic rebirth," Cuomo said. "Many child care providers struggled to stay open throughout the pandemic as parents stayed home with their children. This monumental investment - the largest single investment in child care in our state's history - will allow these programs to continue providing essential services and enable more parents to return to the workplace full time."
Eligible providers include OCFS-licensed or registered programs, permitted New York City day care centers and legally exempt group programs that are enrolled with an enrollment agency. The program must have been serving children in person as of March 11, 2021 and provide in-person care on the date they apply for the grant. This includes programs who currently do not have children enrolled by meet the previously stated criteria.
Programs that are not providing services on the date of application may also be eligible for this grant if the program closed temporarily due to public health, financial hardship, or other reasons relating to the COVID-19, and attest that they will begin serving children within a specified timeframe.
OCFS will award more than $10 million in technical assistance funds to 35 child care resource, referral agencies and other key stakeholders to support child care providers in accessing and implementing the stabilization grants.
Resources is available to facilities looking for help in applying to the grants.
