Neighborhood Villages Commends Governor Healey for Signing Supplemental Budget with Funding for Critical Child Care Operations Grants
Budget includes $68 million to help extend the grant program until the end of FY23
BOSTON, MA (March 30, 2023) - Today, Neighborhood Villages — a Boston-based nonprofit that advocates for solutions to the greatest challenges faced by the early education sector — applauded Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey for signing the FY23 supplemental budget, which commits $68 million to direct-to-provider operations grants. These funds will ensure that there will be sufficient dollars to continue the operations grants program through June 2023. These grants, initially introduced as a pandemic response initiative, have proven essential to the field’s viability. Governor Healey has also included $475 million for these operations grants in her FY24 budget.
Lauren Kennedy, co-president of Neighborhood Villages, issued the following statement:
“These funds are absolutely critical to keeping the struggling child care sector afloat and allowing us to move towards stability and growth. We thank Governor Healey, the House, and the Senate for making this transformative investment in Massachusetts’ early education and care sector.
“If we truly want to fix the broken child care sector that is having damaging effects on our children, families, educators, and economy, we need public investment. This funding is a win for everyone and we are committed to continuing our work with our state partners to solve the child care crisis.”
Background
Over the last year and a half, the C3 grant program has supported more than 7,100 early education and care programs across the Commonwealth – including 4,500 FCC providers and 2,600 center-based providers. These direct-to-provider operations grants have been highly effective: data from more than 6,000 grant recipients demonstrate the foundational role that operations grants have played – and will continue to play – in sustaining Massachusetts’ early education and care sector.
Some data from grant recipients includes:
751 providers (more than 12% of all providers in MA), inclusive of 556 FCC providers, reported that they would have to close if operations grants ceased.
As a result of receiving grants funds, 83% of center-based providers and 41% of FCC providers allocated grant funds to staff compensation.
With the help of C3 funds, more than 25% of all providers were able to defer planned tuition increases.
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About Neighborhood Villages
Neighborhood Villages, founded in 2017 by Lauren Kennedy and Sarah Muncey, is a Boston-based systems-change non-profit that advocates for early education and care policy reform and implements scalable solutions that address the biggest challenges facing providers and the families who rely on them. For more information, visit https://www.neighborhoodvillages.org/our-work.