Relief provides $39B for child care crisis

WASHINGTON – The Biden administration released nearly $40 billion of the administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package to confront what President Joe Biden called an “acute, immediate child care crisis,” distributing money to help providers pay their rent and rehire workers made jobless by the pandemic, as well as make child care more affordable.

The U.S. child care sector collapsed under the confines of the coronavirus pandemic, shuttering thousands of day care centers depleted by low enrollment and overwhelmed by COVID-19 sanitation costs. Parents, often women, who could no longer afford child care, were forced to leave their jobs and shoulder the burden at home. The closures have been especially stark for women of color, who predominantly make up the child care workforce.

“The strength of our country, the resilience of our economy depends on affordability and the availability of child care,” Vice President Kamala Harris said.

As more Americans return to work and schools reopen, advocates said the child care industry is being left behind. Among the child care centers that remained open, 81% say they lost enrollment over the past year, according to a survey of more than 6,000 providers by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Though an exact count of center closures is unclear, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 166,900 fewer people worked in child care in December 2020 than during the same month in 2019, when the industry employed about 1,040,400 people.

For educators such as Lori Lorenz, owner and director of Little Explorers Preschool in Fishers, Indiana, the fallout has been devastating.

“I never experienced the challenge we’ve had this year – it’s just been so hard . ... I’m so concerned that I’m not keeping everyone here as healthy as I need to,” she told USA TODAY.

The money will be distributed through two funds, including $24 billion to help hard-hit child care providers pay their rent or mortgage; invest in COVID-19 safety protocols, such as purchasing personal protection equipment and improving ventilation; rehire workers who have been laid off; and provide mental health services for educators and children, according to a fact sheet provided by the White House.

The administration plans to provide $15 billion to expand the Child Care and Development Block Grant, that helps low-income families pay for child care.

“It’s a core part of making our economy work. It’s important to small businesses, to ensuring we don’t have job losses in the short term, and in the long term, child care jobs are good paying jobs,” Carmel Martin, White House deputy domestic policy adviser for upward mobility, said. “It’s important from the perspective of parents and their ability to live happy lives but also go to work without worrying about children and the critical component of child development.”

The Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families will release the money to states, which will be responsible for disbursing dollars to thousands of child care providers, many of which are small businesses owned by people of color. The White House estimated the stabilization grants would ensure that child care providers serving more than 5 million children will stay afloat.

Laura McSorley, director for early childhood policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said states need to distribute dollars equitably and in a timely manner to providers and families in need.

“There is real devastation on what are ultimately tiny businesses and solo entrepreneurs who were never in a position to have strong margins but also for families and their young children who are in desperate need of relief,” she said.

Martin said HHS will require states to report the steps they take to ensure there’s equitable access to dollars, including offering materials in multiple languages.