Resource Collection: Maximizing Federal Relief Funds
These resources provide state leaders with information on the funding available through 2020-2021 Federal Relief Programs and strategies for maximizing opportunities.
States, counties, cities, communities, and schools currently have significant opportunities to rethink supports for young children and their families through three federal relief and stimulus packages: the CARES Act, signed in March 2020, CRRSA (the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriates Act) signed in December 2020, and ARPA (the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021) signed in March 2021. With these three pieces of legislation, the federal government has earmarked $50 billion for child care alone.
Our country faced devastating child care challenges pre-pandemic, which the crisis only exacerbated, but this investment offers leaders a chance to reinvent, rebuild, and create a system of early care and education centered on families, especially those who have been marginalized by racism, and with the potential to reward providers with significantly enhanced compensation and benefits.
This collection of resources provides a primer on what is covered by the legislation and presents a wide range of current thinking on how best to maximize the historic opportunities created by these relief and stimulus packages.