Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development

Department Awards $11.4 Million in Child Care Grants
To improve the availability and quality of childcare in Wisconsin

MADISON – Department of Workforce Development Secretary Jennifer Reinert today announced 84 local organizations, which include county and city government, school districts, technical colleges and tribes, will receive $11.4 million in child care pass through grants. The grants will be used to improve the quality and availability of child care across the state.

"These grants will allow local agencies to expand the child care that is available in their area and enhance the services that are provided to families," said Secretary Reinert. "This is an important investment in our children and our working families."

The grants were developed to encourage collaboration between organizations on the local level. Programs that will be funded by the grants include health care services in child care settings, curriculum development for child care providers, assistance in creating child care services for children with disabilities, and making child care available at a local job center.

One example of innovative collaboration includes Lakeshore Technical College, Manitowoc and Sheboygan Counties, and the school districts of Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Elkhart Lake-Glenbeula, and Cedar Grove-Belgium pooling their grants to create an affordable health care plan for child care providers in the area. The retention of child care providers is often difficult as they don’t have access to an affordable health care plan.

"This is a perfect example of what can be achieved when federal, state, and local government and local organizations work together toward a common goal. Parents and their children will reap the benefits of this cooperative effort," said Reinert.

A local match is needed for the federal block grants, and the DWD’s Office of Child Care came up with an innovative way of achieving the match in order to secure all child care dollars available to the state. Local agencies do not have to come up with a dollar-for-dollar cash match, and can take advantage of the grant money through a previous investment in child care improvement.

Attached is a list of the grant recipients.