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The
Illinois Department of Human Services announced that $300
million in new relief grants will be made available to child
care providers across the state to help recruit and retain
workers. That brings the state’s child care pandemic relief
grant total to more than $1 billion since the pandemic began.
To help recruit and retain staff, at least 50% of the grants
must be invested in new personnel and workforce initiatives,
with a focus on increasing compensation and benefits.
Applications for the newest round of funding are due in early
January, with funding beginning to flow in February 2022 ad
through January 2023.
The funding will support child care providers with about $25,000
per classroom per year, child care group homes with $15,000 per
year, and child care homes with about $10,000 per year.
Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, said Illinois is spending money
on programs like no other state.
“I look around us, whether it is Wisconsin or Indiana or Iowa or
where ever, and I don’t see what we have here in Illinois,”
Peters said. “This is an epic level of investment, an epic level
of support.”
Some have questioned Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s power on how to dole
out billions of dollars in federal pandemic relief money. His
team said federal rules allow the governor to tap into the
Illinois American Rescue Plan funds without an appropriation
from the General Assembly. During budget talks last spring,
Democrats in control in Springfield created a fund to give the
governor authority over how to spend the money.
State Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, said investment in early
childhood programs is crucial because it is important that
Illinois children get an early start.
“I always compare it to the housing developers,” Ford said.
“There is no doubt if you don’t develop a house right, one day
you are going to find out that the house has problems. It is the
same thing with child care and the development of a child.”
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