San Diego Leaders Launch Childcare Provider Grant Program and Application

For Immediate Release

County of San Diego partners with The San Diego Foundation, Child Development Associates and YMCA of San Diego County to manage the distribution of $25 million in CARES Act funding

August 20, 2020 – San Diego, CA – A coalition of regional partners, including the County of San Diego, The San Diego Foundation, Child Development Associates and YMCA of San Diego County have joined together to launch the San Diego County Childcare Provider Grant Program, an initiative that will distribute $25 million in CARES Act funding to childcare providers impacted by COVID-19.

Recognizing that affordable and safe childcare is essential to our recovery and the ongoing health of our region, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to distribute $25 million of CARES Act funding to eligible childcare providers in San Diego County. To distribute the funds, the County has partnered with The San Diego Foundation, Child Development Associates and YMCA of San Diego County to manage the application, verification and grantmaking process.

Starting August 24, eligible providers will be able to apply for funding online or in print in eight different languages – English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Russian, Somali, Haitian Creole and Arabic – by visiting SDFoundation.org/ChildcareGrants. Funding will support staffing, supplies, mortgage and rental assistance, business resilience and capital improvements for outdoor areas.

“The childcare sector is very important as our economy cannot be sustainable if parents do not have safe places for their children to be cared for, and educated while they are working,” said Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, Co-chair of the County’s COVID-19 Subcommittee. “This new $25 million grant program will help childcare providers make their centers safe during the coronavirus pandemic and allow them to remain open so parents can return to work.”

The Childcare Provider Grant Program builds upon the impact of the COVID-19 Community Response Fund, which was launched in partnership with the Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and other regional leaders to receive donations and make emergency grants to organizations supporting San Diegans impacted by the pandemic. To date, the COVID-19 Community Response Fund at The San Diego Foundation has distributed more than $26 million to nonprofits on the frontlines of the crisis.

The Foundation will also provide an additional $10 million in grants to support children and families, and access to quality, affordable childcare in the San Diego region over the next five years with at least $1 million of that distributed in 2020.

“COVID-19 continues to impact every San Diegan and magnifies the inequities that exist in our region,” shared Mark Stuart, President & CEO of The San Diego Foundation. “While the impacts of this crisis are vast, this $25 million Childcare Provider Grant Program will go a long way toward ensuring that our families and children remain safe and healthy amid the pandemic.”

“During this time, First 5 San Diego has been working alongside our community partners and childcare providers to better understand the challenges they and families have experienced as a result of the pandemic,” explained Alethea Arguilez, Executive Director of First 5 San Diego. “We also have been focusing on equity for our most vulnerable children and families ensuring they are connected to available support services. This investment is very timely, as we know our providers have been operating with greater restrictions and mandates in order to maintain the health and safety of the children they serve. Ultimately, these funds will support our existing childcare system and in turn continue to nurture the healthy development of all our children.”

“This grant funding comes at the right time as San Diego moves off the watch list and more San Diegans are getting back to work,” said Rick Richardson, President & CEO of CDA. “As families return to work, businesses and their employees need childcare more than ever.”

“The pandemic crisis has challenged and impacted all of us in new ways, but I’m proud of how our Y has responded to childcare needs,” said Baron Herdelin-Doherty, President & CEO of the YMCA of San Diego County. “We’re grateful to partners like the County of San Diego and Supervisor Fletcher, The San Diego Foundation and CDA. This funding helps prioritize access to high-quality childcare for all families, helps provide a professional wage for hardworking providers, and helps strengthen the childcare system.”

Funding will be allocated based on pre-determined categories outlined in the CARES Act agreement. Large family childcare providers (licensed to care for a maximum of 14 children) will be eligible to receive up to $3,500 and small family childcare providers (licensed to care for a maximum of 8 children) will be eligible for up to $2,750. Non-government contracted, licensed providers will be eligible to receive up to $175 per child capacity, based on childcare license.

Partially-funded Government contracted (i.e. CSPP, CCTR, Head Start), licensed childcare centers will be eligible to receive up to $175 per non-subsidized child, not to exceed license capacity. Non-government contracted, license-exempt group care providers, such as summer day camps, recreational programs that are camps and community youth clubs such as Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego, that serve school-age children up to 12 years old will be eligible to receive up to $100 per child capacity.

To learn more about the San Diego County Childcare Provider Grant Program, please visit SDFoundation.org/ChildcareGrants.

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Contacts

Justin Nunez, The San Diego Foundation, 336-254-7056, justin@sdfoundation.org
James Canning, Office of Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, 619-372-7988, james.canning@sdcounty.ca.gov