$600 pandemic relief available to child care employees

Jan. 20—Gov. Tom Wolf announced Wednesday one-time $600 grants for child care workers across Pennsylvania.

The funds are available to child care providers licensed by the Office of Child Development and Early Learning through the federal Child Care Development Fund and remaining funding previously made available through federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act allocated for child care providers.

"For nearly a year, child care professionals have continued to work through a challenging environment, providing a safe and caring setting for our youngest Pennsylvanians as their parents go to work performing essential work through a tumultuous period," Wolf said.

This award is available to all licensed child care providers that are currently open and operating regardless of Keystone STARS level and will be administered through local Early Learning Resource Centers on behalf of OCDEL and will replace the Keystone STARS Education and Retention Award for state fiscal year 2020-21, and provide approximately 33,000 child care employees across the commonwealth the one-time $600 award. The previous ERA provided payments to approximately 9,000 child care employees, so this restructuring will significantly expand this reach during a time of great need.

Eligible employees include child care workers who:

Are employed by a licensed child care provider as of Jan. 1;

Earn less than or equal to a gross salary of $70,000, annually; and,

Work a minimum of 20 hours per week at a licensed child care provider.

Child care providers that are currently licensed and certified through OCDEL can begin to apply on behalf of their eligible employees. All applications must be sent to the provider's ELRC and received by Feb. 12.

___

(c)2021 the Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, Pa.)

Visit the Standard-Speaker (Hazleton, Pa.) at standardspeaker.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.