“Children Learning, Parents Earning, Communities Growing"Federal & Child Care and Development Fund State PlanTopics on this page (click to be directed):
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ CCDBG Resources and UpdatesCCDF Final Rule Released Dear Colleagues, The wait is over! The Office of Child Care is proud to announce the release of new final regulations for the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). As you know, in 2014 Congress reauthorized the Child Care and Development Block Grant and made sweeping changes to the law, and this rule is necessary to address those changes. The rule is the product of much time, research, and careful consideration of comments received on the NPRM. When fully implemented, the provisions in the rule will: 1) Protect the health and safety of children in child care; Of course, the path to full implementation will require continued effort, and the Office of Child Care remains committed to partnering with you in this journey. Although this regulation will take effect 60 days from publication, ACF's goal is to support your successful implementation by September 30, 2018 for States and Territories, and September 30, 2019 for our Tribal partners. I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of you who have dedicated so much of your time and energy to realizing the purposes of the CCDF program while strengthening child care systems, providers, and the early childhood workforce. Every day, you make the hours children spend in child care a little better. We also owe much gratitude to our policy team, all Office of Child Care staff, to all our partners in HHS, and the leadership of the White House. You can find the new regulations by visiting our CCDF Reauthorization webpage http://www.acf.hhs.gov/occ/ccdf-reauthorization. We'll be adding additional resources to our website as they become available, so check back in the coming days and weeks for more information. Thank you for all you do each day for children and families. Rachel Schumacher Click here for a copy of the final rule. Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Reauthorization Resources
Child Care and Development State Fund State Plan The federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) is an aggregate of several funding sources that is distributed in block grants by the federal government to the states and territories. The majority of the funds are to be used to provide child care services to families who meet certain income and need criteria. A portion of the funding is to be used for activities to improve the quality of child care. Another portion is to be used to pay for costs of administering the CCDF. The purpose of the CCDF is to increase the availability, affordability, and quality of child care services. States and territories receiving CCDF funds must prepare and submit to the federal government a plan detailing how these funds will be allocated and expended. HEARING SCHEDULED: Public Hearing for the 2019–2021 Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) State Plan As part of the 2019–2021 CCDF State Plan preparation process, federal law requires the lead agency to post the CCDF State Plan for a minimum of 30 days and to convene a public hearing. The purpose of the public hearing is to provide an opportunity for the public to comment on the provision of child care services and quality improvement activities under the State Plan before it is submitted to the federal government. Click here to read the DRAFT CCDF PREPRINT FOR PUBLIC COMMENT The public hearing on the draft of the State Plan will take place as follows: Tuesday, May 15, 2018 We will be providing satellite locations and addresses shortly. Once confirmed, the host site location along with the remote site locations will be available on the CDE’s Web site. In addition to testimony at the public hearings, written testimony will be accepted and can be submitted by mail, fax, or e-mail. All written comments must be received by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 20, 2018. By Mail: Written comments on the proposed State Plan should be addressed to: _ _ _ _ _ _ April 1, 2018 was the most recent deadline for public testimony for CCDF State Plan Fiscal Year (FY) 2019–21. The submission deadline for the final CCDF State Plan Fiscal Year (FY) 2019–21 is June 30, 2018 to the federal government. A proposed timeline of this process can be found at the CDE CCDF State Plan Timeline Web page. CLICK HERE TO SEE CAPPA'S INPUT LETTER for fiscal year 2019 -2021. Federal Fiscal Years (FFY) 2019-21 _ _ _ _ _ _Federal Fiscal Years (FFY) 2016-18
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Federal Legislation of RelevanceJune 11, 2018
House TANF Bill Makes Small Improvements, But No New Funding to Support Them By Elizabeth Lower-Basch and Renato Rocha Last week the House Committee on Ways and Means passed H.R. 5862, a TANF reauthorization bill, with no Democratic support. However, members of both parties have expressed a shared understanding that TANF isn't providing participants the education, training, and supportive services needed to find-and keep-good jobs that enable them to meet their families' needs. Read more. June 4, 2018
Child Care Aware of America Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee published draft legislation that would reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, including making significant changes to child care entitlement spending by states. In its current version, the legislation proposes raising the cap by allowing states to transfer up 50% of TANF funds to CCDF. However, it would prohibit these funds from being spent on child care activities. While CCAoA supports giving states more flexibility on child care investment, we fear that this proposal could negatively affect families and communities who depend on this support. Child Care Aware® of America provided comments on the draft bill to the Committee that you can review here . The official introduction and consideration of the bill may happen soon. As of now, there is no Senate companion legislation.
On the Hill Get Ready for Farm Bill Floor Fight: On April 18, the House Agriculture Committee reported out a Farm Bill, H.R.2 (pdf), that could see a House floor vote as soon as mid-May. This bill would take food out of the refrigerators and off the kitchen tables of more than 1 million households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), leading to significantly greater hunger and poverty. Meanwhile,the Senate Agriculture Committee is currently drafting its version of the Farm Bill, which is expected this spring. November 6, 2017With the state legislature on Interim recess, our attention and focus has turned to the federal government. Of particular interest is the Child Care for Working Families Act, introduced by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the top Democrat on the Senate education committee. This bill aims to be a comprehensive early learning and child care bill with the goal of increasing access and affordable, high-quality child care for working families across the country. The bill, S. 1806, was introduced on 9/14/17 and has been referred to Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, where it is currently at in the legislative process. As highlighted in Senator Murray's press release, the main tenants of the bill are as follows:
Text for the bill can be found by clicking HERE. A fact sheet can be found HERE. A press release can be found HERE. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
September 4, 2018
Members of the conference committee are working on a final version of the Farm Bill, which includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP is a proven anti-poverty and anti-hunger program supporting low-wage working families, seniors, children, and people with disabilities, and it is at risk of massive cuts that could lead to one million working families losing access to these benefits.
Make sure the House and Senate conferees working on this legislation protect SNAP benefits as the Senate version of the bill proposes, and oppose any cuts to this critical program in a final Farm Bill. Click here to communicate to your elected representatives.
June 25, 2018 Thank you for taking action! But our work isn't done yet!
Thank you to the parents, providers, and advocates who raised your voices for children and families being separated at the border. We have proven the powerful impact of advocacy and shown we will not back down when it comes to children and families.
With the new executive order, families will no longer be separated, but that does not mean the trauma is over. Over 2,300 children are still separated from their families, with no clear process for reunification. In addition, detaining families together still means families will be subjected to insurmountable trauma. Parents cannot adequately parent while under the unimaginable stress of detention and children cannot thrive while they are detained and denied access to adequate medical care, mental health services, and the ability to play, learn, and grow.
Take Action:
The Struggles of Low-Wage Work, by CLASP Millions of workers have jobs with low pay, shifting schedules, few if any benefits, and limited opportunities for advancement or career growth. Women and people of color are particularly likely to have such jobs. Despite employment gains since the Great Recession, wages have remained low. A median worker did not earn much more in 2017 than in -1979. Workers in low-wage jobs are also more likely to receive part-time hours when they would prefer a full-time schedule. Read More. This fact sheet-written by Tanya Goldman, Pronita Gupta, and Eduardo Hernandez-describes low-wage workers' challenges and explains the elements that a good job requires.
April 11, 2018 Follow up resources on new Child Care & Development Block Grant Funds These resources from CLASP may be helpful in answering your questions about the new funds:
The National Women's Law Center (NWLC) and CLASP are creating a learning community for advocates to facilitate sharing around state strategies for the new CCDBG funds. Click here to fill out the form if you're interested in joining. We will hold monthly calls where advocates can share their best practices, state developments, challenges, and opportunities. This will also be a useful place to discuss maintaining these funds in FY19 and beyond. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
April 4, 2018 A new paper released by the U.S. Partnership on Mobility from Poverty and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities proposes improvements to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to enable more children in low-income working families to qualify for the full credit. Roughly 27 million children under 17 live in families that don’t earn enough to qualify for the full credit – or, in many cases even partial credit. Excluding the poorest children from the full CTC runs counter to a substantial body of research showing that raising the incomes of low-income children can deliver significant benefits to children’s economic mobility and opportunity later in life. The paper proposes several CTC improvements: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Omnibus Spending Bill: Clear Progress for Everyday Americans, But Much Left Undone: Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign Resources: Child Care in the FY 2018 Omnibus Spending Bill:
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