By Megan Leonhardt

(EXCERPT)

The additional money builds on the $3.5 billion in emergency funding Congress allocated to the CCDBG in the first coronavirus stimulus package passed in late March. That funding was not only earmarked to help support providers that may be struggling with low enrollment or closures related to the coronavirus, the legislation stipulated that it could be used to help emergency responders and other essential workers pay for child care. 

In theory, child-care providers can also apply for Paycheck Protection Program loan (and some have), but experts say the program is not a good fit for the vast majority of facilities. “The loans aren’t designed to meet the needs and realities of child-care providers and simply cannot be the solution for the field,” says the Center for Law and Social Policy. Many home-based providers, for example, don’t have additional employees to keep on the payroll. Other providers operate multiple locations as a network, meaning that have too many employees to qualify.

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