NJ rolling out $50M in child care grants

New Jersey is putting up $50 million to support the state’s child care centers as they continue to recover from COVID-mandated disruptions of 2020, the state announced Friday. 

The money comes out of a pool run by the state’s Economic Development Authority and is meant to be used for facilities upgrades. 

“Too often child care providers forgo making necessary investments in facility upgrades due to razor-thin profit margins,” said Tim Sullivan, the EDA’s chief executive officer. 

Board documents indicate that the state received 450 applications from child care centers, and that an initial pool of $24.5 million in grant money wouldn’t be enough to satisfy demand. The money was approved by the state EDA at last Wednesday morning's board meeting.

Those 450 centers serve over 36,000 children and employ 9,000 members of the child care workforce across the state, according to a press release sent out Friday. So far, 31 applications have been approved, for a combined $5.7 million. 

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That money comes from the Biden-era American Rescue Plan funds, according to board documents. Applications are available on the state EDA’s website, and grants are between $50,000 and $200,000 to cover costs for upgrades to the interior and exterior of child care centers.

New Jersey’s child care sector hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic, according to a 100-page report released by the Rutgers University Center for Women and Work. 

The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread disruptions in child care — a quarter of New Jersey families with children reported some kind of disruption. Black and Hispanic parents, LGBTQ+ parents and single parents were more likely to experience inaccessible child care during the pandemic, the report found. 

New Jersey’s child care workforce is still “substantially below” pre-COVID levels, according to the report, which calls for improving wages and increasing the number of child care programs. 

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“These investments are important, and they represent a big step forward, helping New Jersey’s child care providers upgrade and maintain their facilities,” Debra Lancaster, a co-author of the report and executive director of the Rutgers Center, said of the grants announced Friday. “But modernizing child care compensation still needs to be addressed to ensure that New Jersey has a stable child care work workforce positioned to deliver high quality education and care.”