Earlier this month, the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services provided some guidance to states on the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) funding increases included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. You can read the full announcement here. It was estimated that Wisconsin will receive a total of $30,493,313 of which $2,520,849 must be used for initiatives that improve the quality of child care in Wisconsin (like the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® WISCONSIN scholarship program and the R.E.W.A.R.D. ™ WISCONSIN stipend program) and $1,459,902 must be used for high-quality infant/toddler care initiatives.

States are required to decide how these funds will be distributed by September 10, 2009. Dollars must be used to create new jobs, serve more families, and improve the quality of early education (the goals of the ARRA). Visit Wisconsin’s recovery website for more information on how we are using stimulus dollars.