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Gov. Wolf announces $53M in aid for child care providers during pandemic

Patriot-News - 7/6/2020

Gov. Tom Wolf announced Monday his administration is directing $53 million in federal aid to help support child care providers during the coronavirus pandemic, and he said more help is on the way.

Another $116 million from the federal government will be distributed in the coming months. The state previously released $51 million in CARES Act Child Care Development Funds in June.

Altogether, the state is directing $220 million to help keep child care centers afloat. All of that money is from the federal government, Wolf said.

Wolf said 65 centers have closed statewide due to the pandemic, and more than 100 others have declined aid, indicating they do not intend to reopen. Wolf talked about the importance of the aid during a visit to the child care center at PSECU headquarters in Harrisburg.

“This funding will help child care providers bridge the gap until their clientele returns,” Wolf said in a statement.

In addition, the money can help child care providers purchase more cleaning supplies and other items required during the pandemic, Wolf said.

The funding is distributed through the Department of Human Services’ Office of Child Development and Early Learning, which licenses the state’s 7,000 child care centers. Those centers serve 386,000 children across Pennsylvania.

The human services department has teamed with Penn State Harrisburg on a study to gauge the pandemic’s impact on child care providers. The results of the study will help determine how more aid will be distributed, said Human Services Secretary Teresa Miller.

“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,” Miller said in a statement.

Miller praised the commitment of the employees at child care centers, who earn modest wages and have returned to work at no small risk to their health.

George Rudolph, president and CEO of PSECU, noted that his organization’s child care center has managed to stay open.

“This is so important because many of the parents who use this service are essential workers,” Rudolph said in a statement. “By keeping the doors open, we’ve been able to provide a valuable service to our local heroes that has allowed them to continue working.”

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