Child Care Support Programs

The act supports various aspects of early childhood and child care by extending current grant programs and developing new programs by making the following appropriations:

• $50 million from federal funds from child care development funds for the purposes of implementing the child care sustainability grant program;
• $16 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund for the emerging and expanding child care grant program.
• $10 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to implement the employer-based child care facility grant program;
• $15 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to implement the early care and education recruitment and retention grant and scholarship program. Of the $15 million, $5 million must be dedicated for home visiting workforce, early childhood mental health consultants, and early intervention providers.
• $7.5 million from the economic recovery and relief cash fund to implement the family, friend, and neighbor training and support programs; and
• One million dollars from the economic recovery and relief cash fund for the purposes of implementing the home visiting grant program.

The act creates the family, friend, and neighbor (FFN) support programs, which include an advisory group and a training and support program. The family, friend, and neighbor advisory group is created to advise the department on the needs of FFN providers and to make recommendations on changes to regulations, policies, funding, and procedures that would benefit the FFN community. The family, friend, and neighbor support program is created to allow community-based organizations and nonprofit organizations that have expertise working with FFN providers to provide them with information, training, materials, and technical assistance to support best practices.

Subject to available appropriations, the department of early childhood shall make existing state programs available to the FFN community, including, but not limited to, home visitation, early intervention, early childhood mental health, workforce recruitment and retention, and family resource center services.

The act creates the home visiting grant program, in which "home visiting" means a voluntary, evidence-based, 2-generation, and home-based prevention program for families with children from prenatal to 6 years of age. The purpose of the home visiting grant program is to support school readiness, social-emotional growth, and age-appropriate child development delivered by a trained home visitor.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)