Fayetteville offers child care assistance using $500,000 in American Rescue Plan money - Arkansas Online

FAYETTEVILLE -- The metropolis has launched a kid attraction voucher programme utilizing immoderate of its American Rescue Plan money.

The City Council connected Tuesday made $500,000 disposable to the program. The metropolis was awarded astir $17.9 cardinal successful national pandemic alleviation done the American Rescue Plan. The programme is 1 of respective covering a scope of needs the metropolis plans to enactment utilizing the alleviation money.

A leafage is acceptable up connected the metropolis website with accusation for residents connected however to apply. Eligible participants tin person up to 12 monthly payments for kid attraction assistance. The payments are made successful the signifier of vouchers paid straight to licensed kid attraction providers.

The assistance volition screen the full outgo of monthly kid attraction for an approved applicant for up to 1 year, said Yolanda Fields, the city's assemblage resources director. There is nary dollar headdress connected assistance for an approved applicant, she said.

Anyone who lives, works oregon goes to schoolhouse successful the metropolis is eligible. The kid oregon children indispensable beryllium enrolled successful a kid attraction installation licensed with the state.

Applicants besides indispensable conscionable low- to moderate-income requirements. Households earning up to 80% the median household income successful the metropolis arsenic defined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are eligible. The metropolis provides a illustration with the income breakdowns connected its webpage. For instance, a household of 4 with an yearly income of up to $66,950 would qualify.

Fields said the metropolis volition administer the programme until the wealth runs out. The metropolis received astir 25 requests for applications wrong a fewer hours of the metropolis putting retired a quality merchandise online astir the programme Friday, she said.

The metropolis has 63 licensed kid attraction providers, according to the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

The mean yearly outgo of kid attraction successful the authorities is $6,100, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Young parenthood disproportionally affects women's information successful the labour unit compared to men, according to the bank's data.

"In Arkansas, 67% of mothers with young children are employed oregon actively looking for work, compared with 72% of women without children," a November blog station from the slope says. "For men, the signifier flips. Almost each fathers with young children (94%) are employed oregon looking for work, portion a smaller bulk (81%) of childless men enactment successful the labour force."

Applicants for the city's programme should expect to supply impervious of residence specified arsenic a inferior measure oregon impervious of enactment successful the metropolis specified arsenic a wage stub, Fields said. Community resources unit volition locomotion applicants done the process to find the indispensable paperwork, specified arsenic taxation returns to verify income, she said.

The metropolis volition support way of the fig of participants successful the programme and however overmuch wealth is committed, Fields said.

Anyone seeking an exertion for Fayetteville's kid attraction voucher programme tin email community_resources@fayetteville-ar.gov oregon telephone (479) 575-8260.