The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and Child Care
Jobs Created Must be Accompanied by Child Care Assistance to be Viable

March 24, 2010

Author: Susan C. Antos

As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) [1], New York State received $96,785,640.00 from the federal government to spend on child care – decisions about how to spend the money have to be made by September 30, 2010.  The money must be spent by September 30, 2011. 
  
Even with ARRA money, there is not enough funding for child care.  In February, 2010, Erie County terminated child care subsidies for 1,500 children because the county ran out of funding.  Steuben County has reduced eligibility for child care assistance to 120% of poverty which has led to the loss of 300 child care slots.  New York City plans to reduce its number of subsidized slots by 1,200 in April 2010. 

The availability of child care assistance is absolutely critical for New York’s job creation efforts to be successful.  Parents cannot work if they cannot afford child care.  In the current state budget, New York State proposes the creation of nearly 6,000 new jobs for families under 200% of poverty with other ARRA funding (Transitional jobs - $10 million; health care jobs - $5 million; green jobs -$3 million; local family support fund - $41.5 million).  Current funding cannot support low income working families.  How will families take advantage of these new jobs without help paying for child care?

Background on AARA Funding for Child Care:

Of the $96.7 million in AARA funds available from the federal government, the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) has allocated a total of $84,150,757 to local social services districts. [2]  The remaining $12,634,883 has been earmarked for child care quality improvement and infant and toddler activities and has been retained by OCFS to distribute statewide.  The $84.1 million will be allocated to social services districts in two phases. 

• The first, $42,075,379 has already been made available for the period of October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2010 to 25 social services districts. [3]  A listing of those districts and their allocations is below.  Districts that did not spend at least 85% of their Child Care Block Grant allocation from the previous year did not receive ARRA funds in the first round of funding. 
• The second round of funding is expected to be announced in April and can be used to cover expenses from October 1, 2009 through March 31, 2011.
• Local districts are permitted to use some of their ARRA allocations for child care quality improvement projects provided that approval has been obtained from the OCFS Division of Child Care Services.  So far, no districts have submitted plans to use this money for quality improvement
• The $12,634,883 set aside for quality expansion and infant and toddler activities will fund the following:  
  1) $5.3 million for an electronic time and attendance system;
  2) $1.2 million for implementation of QualityStarsNY, a quality rating system for child care;
  3) $3 million for quality grants directed towards family child care providers covered by the CSEA and UFT union agreements; and
  4) $3.1 million dollars for infant toddler initiatives.

Recommended Actions on Child Care and AARA funding:

Any jobs created with TANF funds will need to go to families with children.  Without access to childcare these jobs will be untenable.  Please ensure that low income parents are able to take full advantage of new job opportunities by ensuring that they have access to child care assistance.

End Notes:
[1] Public Law 111-5
[2] A social services district is a county, except in New York City, where the five boroughs constitute one social services district. For the most part, ACS, the Administration for Children’s Services administers child care in New York City.
[3] See 09-OCFS-LCM-5 at: http://www.ocfs.state.ny.us/main/policies/external.