Governor Phil Scott Announces Launch of Child Care Operational Relief Grant

For Immediate Release
Friday, August 7, 2020

Contact
Conor Kennedy, Agency of Human Services
802-760-9110 | conor.kennedy@vermont.gov

GOVERNOR PHIL SCOTT ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF CHILD CARE OPERATIONAL RELIEF GRANT PROGRAM
Child Care, Afterschool Programs, Summer Camps, Parent Child Centers, and Children’s Integrated Services provides are encouraged to apply beginning today

Montpelier, Vt. – Governor Phil Scott and the Department for Children and Families (DCF) today announced the launch of a new grant program to help mitigate operational expenses and losses for child care providers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are so grateful to the child care workers and programs who have stepped up to provide critical services to children and their families throughout this crisis,” said Governor Scott. “These grant funds will help programs recover and continue expanding the availability of early care and learning for Vermont families.”

The Operational Relief Grant (ORG) program includes $12 million in federal Coronavirus Relief Funding to help child care programs offset pandemic-related expenses and losses. Grant applications are open now through August 26 and award notices are anticipated by September 11. Eligible applicants include child care and afterschool programs, summer day camps, parent child centers and agencies that serve as fiscal agents for local Children’s Integrated Services.

Throughout the State of Emergency, the Scott administration has provided financial supports and incentives to child care providers, including stipends for providers serving children during the summer, tuition stabilization funds, and incentives for providers serving the children of essential workers.

“We recognize and appreciate the critical role that child care providers play in supporting children, working families and the economy of Vermont,” said Sean Brown, commissioner for the Department of Children and Families. “This has been particularly true during the pandemic, and these grants will help ensure we have child care for families that need to work by assisting providers with expenses and losses incurred by COVID-19.”

To assist providers in navigating and applying for these grants, the Child Development Division of DCF, in collaboration with Building Bright Futures, will host a live informational webinar for child care programs, afterschool programs and summer day camps on August 11. A separate opportunity for Parent Child Centers and Children’s Integrated Services’ fiscal agents to learn about the grant process will be held during the week of August 10.

For more information about the grant program, including the application, frequently asked questions and webinar registration and recording, please visit www.dcf.vermont.gov/covid19-relief-grants.

For more information on:

COVID-19 health information, guidance and case data, visit www.healthvermont.gov/covid19.
The Governor’s actions, visit https://governor.vermont.gov/covid19response.
The state’s modeling, visit https://dfr.vermont.gov/about-us/covid-19/modeling.

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