Your voices are being heard!
More than 1,000 of you signed on to our Build Stronger policy document, and we’re happy to report that the Legislature listened.
H.965, which allocates hundreds of millions of federal CARES Act funds, is on its way to the Governor for his signature—and it includes significant support for additional Restart Grants for child care programs, summer day camps, and afterschool programs.
The bill directs $12 million to the Department for Children and Families to support Restart Grants, the Parent Child Center Network, and Children’s Integrated Services (CIS). We expect these funds to be made available to the field in the coming weeks.
Please take a moment to contact your legislators this week to say thank you for passing H.965 and for using CARES Act funds to support Vermont’s early care and education system as child care programs continue to reopen throughout the summer and into the fall. Let them know that there’s more to be done, but that they’ve taken an important step. Remember, you can use our Legislator Dashboard to do this easily and quickly!
What's Next?
The Legislature will now take a break. Legislators will return to work on August 25 to pass a budget for the rest of FY21, and to spend the remaining CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) money, which must be used by the end of the year. We’ll have more work to do when legislators return, but your advocacy is already making a difference for families and early care and education programs. Thank you!
We’re grateful for the work of the Legislature in supporting Vermont’s children, families, and early educators. We also know there is so much more to do to ensure that our early care and education system can build toward the strong, equitable future that all our children deserve.