The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Child Care Program Office has received an additional $10.5 million to be distributed to Alaska’s child care providers to offset revenue lost during April and May for the care of children who are not eligible for child care assistance. This funding is for April and May combined.
Alaska Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum: “I’m glad to be guiding more funding to our child care providers, as we recognize their important role in continuing to reopen Alaska responsibly. We found that the funding available to this sector was not coming fast enough, so under direction from Governor Mike Dunleavy, we were able to use State of Alaska CARES dollars to provide additional money for those businesses that care for our children.”
This new funding is in addition to previous funding provided through the Child Care Program Office. In April, the Child Care Program Office received approximately $6.4 million from the CARES Act through the U.S. Administration for Children and Families for child care assistance, along with $2.6 million in State of Alaska CARES Act funds. Those funds have already been disbursed to providers to cover March 2020 expenses.
To distribute this new funding as equitably as possible for children who are not eligible for child care assistance, the Child Care Program Office will pay providers according to the following plan:
- The Child Care Program Office will pay providers for the revenue lost from private payment sources as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, using a provider’s license capacity multiplied by a flat rate.
- If a provider was open at any time during the month of April or May, the flat rate per child will be $400. If a provider was closed for the entire month of April and/or May, the flat rate per child will be $200, regardless of attendance.
- The child care assistance funds that providers are currently eligible for will continue to be paid going forward.
- All licensed providers will receive a payment based on their licensed capacity for April and May. There is no need for any additional documentation to be submitted to the CCPO office.
This is one-time funding using State of Alaska CARES dollars. The Child Care Program Office has issued 100% of the federal capacity grants from ACF and does not anticipate any additional payments to assist in capacity building. In addition to these additional capacity-based dollars, providers are encouraged to apply for relief funds through their local municipalities, nonprofit relief through the Alaska Community Foundation, and through the AK CARES grant program.