Virginia will get $70 million from feds to help child care centers care stay open for essential workers

Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday that $70 million in federal money would be used to help child care efforts in Virginia during the coronavirus pandemic, as weeks of social distancing have forced hundreds of day cares to close their doors.

Emphasizing the need to keep child-care centers open for the kids of hospital staff, grocery store employees and others who have been deemed “essential” during the quarantine, Northam said the money would be used for:

• Direct cash assistance to centers that have remained open, as well as those that had accepted federal subsidies but have closed during the emergency;
• Preparing now-vacant school buildings to host emergency child care centers where needed; and
• Eliminating monthly copayments thorough June for families that were already receiving federal child care subsidies.

“These measures should help some of our child care centers stay open to serve the children of our essential workers,” Northam said at a press briefing Wednesday afternoon.

Emily Griffey from Voices for Virginia’s Children, a youth advocacy group that has been pushing for economic relief for the child care sector, said the group was pleased with Northam’s move.

Some updated documents on Virginia’s Department of Social Services website made reference to grants available to child care providers, but details about the grants and how much of the $70 million would ultimately be available for providers was not immediately available on Wednesday.

“We want to be sure that centers that serve our most vulnerable Virginians are ready to welcome children back when it is possible to do so,” Northam said about the help for closed centers that have had their revenue streams cut off completely.

The $70 million injection into the state’s child care infrastructure comes courtesy of the federal coronavirus stimulus package known as the CARES Act, which Congress passed at the end of March and contains more than $2 billion in various benefits to lessen the economic impact of the coronavirus.

Ryan Murphy, 757-739-8582, ryan.murphy@pilotonline.com