Pennsylvania doles out $51 million to child care centers to help with reopening

More than $50 million from Pennsylvania’s first round of federal coronavirus aid will go to nearly 7,000 child care centers across the state, Gov. Tom Wolf said Wednesday.

Wolf said reopening the state will require “robust and healthy” child care. Of the money, which is part of CARES Act funding received by the state, $4.2 million will go to child care centers in Allegheny County. Another $842,500 will go to providers in Westmoreland County.

“Child care providers are the backbone of our economy in many ways,” Wolf said in a statement “Without their work, children would miss out on an introduction to education that helps them throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and parents and guardians may have to stay home or not pursue education themselves.”

The $51 million comes out of the $106 million the state received to fund child care centers through the CARES Act.

The first wave will go to any eligible, licensed child care providers, and it is meant to help the facilities prepare to reopen as more counties move toward the yellow-phase of the tiered reopening plan. The remaining money will be distributed once the Department of Human Resources completes a study on the pandemic’s economic impact on child care providers.

“Without their service, we cannot have a fully functional economy, and we are committed to helping them weather this tumultuous period,” Secretary of Human Services Teresa Miller said of child care providers.

The amount each provider gets will depend on the size, enrollment and other factors.