U.S. Representative Brett Guthrie met with local community members Wednesday evening to discuss the ways that child care has been impacted during the pandemic and how federal aid was utilized.
According to Benjamin Gies, director of early childhood policy & practice with the Prichard Committee, Kentucky received $65 million from the CARES Act toward the Child Care & Development Block Grant.
The money was allocated proportionally throughout the state and then given to local child care providers on a population basis. Janet Land, Interim Preschool Director at Settle Memorial United Methodist Church said without the aid, Settle “would not have survived.”
Land said she saw families struggle to get the child to daycare so to help, parents were quitting work to take care of their children.
The initial $65 million was spent on repairs to the childcare system and by December, an additional $195 million was given to the state. These went to direct sustained payments, Gies said. Those payments went on to affect different centers and how members paid for the services.
Now that Guthrie had the knowledge of where the funding went, Gies said that the money received was great, and now they are looking for something that will provide longterm stability to the American Child Care Center.
Land said that the big part is getting the community to understand the value of what happens to children. Land, Gies and others are currently working together and trying to come up with a five-year strategic plan for universal and voluntary high-quality early childhood education opportunities for every child in Owensboro-Daviess County.
Their ideas for the plan come from other successful areas where they have seen progress. Through conducting focus groups and community connections, they will learn how best to serve the community.
Along with the funding call to action for Guthrie, Gies asked that he help change qualifications for Burmese children to allow them to enter the Head Start program earlier. As of right now, the qualifications to join early Head Start include income level, disabilities and others.
Gies is hoping that by adjusting the qualifications, they could include being an English Language Learner as a disability to enable those children the ability to learn English before they enter kindergarten.
