All parents need access to reliable child care in order to go to work and kids need a place to learn and grow while the parents are working. That’s why my administration is working hard to expand affordable, high-quality child care options for Maine’s working families.
Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.
Look, good child care ensures that moms and dads across the state can go to work, earn a paycheck, and have the all-important peace of mind of knowing that their child is in a safe and enriching environment.
But for years, finding child care providers with available slots has been very hard for many Maine families. That’s especially true in our rural communities. The pandemic only added to the problem.
That’s why my administration has taken decisive action to strengthen our child care sector. Earlier this week, I announced that my administration will award $5.5 million to new and existing child care providers in Maine to expand child care slots across the state.
This funding will create incentives to open new child care centers and increase the availability of infant care in particular. It will help low-income families find affordable child care. And it will provide more training for educators and staff to meet the needs of Maine children.
The latest round of funding builds on more than $100 million my administration has invested since the onset of the pandemic to expand early child care and education options for families across the state.
My Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan is investing $15 million to support brick and mortar construction of child care facilities which will create an estimated 4,700 new child care slots across the state.
And earlier this year, I enacted a bipartisan budget that provided more than $12 million to increase the pay of 7,000 early childhood educators across Maine.
That budget also provided free community college for recent high school graduates – many of whom will study early childhood education and enter the workforce during school and after graduation.
Through strategic investments, we are expanding access to early child care options and the quality of early childhood education. That’s good for Maine children, it’s good for working parents, and it’s good for our economy.
This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.