The State of Illinois is expanding assistance to child care providers for low income families.
Governor J.B. Pritzker announced today the state is pumping an additional 20 million dollars into efforts to help daycare centers in the Child Care Assistance Program stay open and to provide a place for parents to take their kids during work hours.
“The state will cover all eligible days of CCAP payments for December, January and February. No matter what your attendance looks like, and all that’s required is for providers to submit to us a simple waver.”
Pritzker says it’s about providing stability to these centers.
“The challenges that child care services are seeing are staff calling in sick or staying home to take care of their own families, concerns about community transmission and families pulling their kids out of care.”
As of last month, 98,000 children were enrolled in CCAP. Support for eligible child care providers also includes, The Department of Children and Family Services will return all licensed family child care providers to full capacity in December and licensed child care centers will return to full capacity in early January, if the COVID-19 rolling positivity rate remains below 9%.
DCFS will also assist with the purchase and distribution of PPE to childcare providers across the state. More information can be found on the Illinois Department of Human Services website.