Child Care Stabilization Grants
Information About Relief Fund Spending to Date
As of July 2022, IDHS has invested over $980 million in federal relief funds in ensuring the recovery and sustainability of Illinois' child care field. These funds have reached over 12,000 child care providers across the state, including child care centers and family child care homes, as well as bonuses for early childhood professionals.
More information regarding these investments is available in dashboards and recipient lists for each of the different grant programs made available to date.
Child Care Restoration Grant Extension (CCRG Extension) and Strengthen and Grow Child Care (SGCC) Grant Programs Remain Available in 2022
Strengthen and Grow Child Care Grant Program
Illinois was awarded federal relief dollars through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to ensure that child care programs can weather the pandemic - and emerge from it stronger than before. So far, this funding has been used to provide Child Care Restoration Grants and the Child Care Workforce Bonus program. In 2022, the Strengthen and Grow Child Care Grant (SGCC) will provide stable, predictable funding to support high-quality child care and invest in our critical child care workforce.
For the next phase of stabilization funding, IDHS Division of Early Childhood (DEC) will be offering Strengthen & Grow Child Care grants. These grants were designed to align with the Early Childhood Funding Commission's recommendations.
- The new grants were designed taking all funding streams into account to maximize access to stable and predictable funding in order to improve quality and support workforce development.
- These grants prioritize equitable and transparent funding across all of Illinois, focusing on those hardest hit by the pandemic, including those providers operating without existing grant-based revenue.
- Programs that operate without predictable grant funding from sources like Head Start and Preschool for All struggle the most to pay reasonable wages and make investments in quality programming.
- In alignment with what the Funding Commission heard from the field, the SGCC grants will provide the additional resources that providers with minimal existing grant-based public funding need so that they can make necessary investments in workforce development and quality programming.
- As recommended by the Funding Commission, the State can no longer make our investments in early childhood one funding stream at a time, but rather must take all sources of programs' funding into consideration. To achieve truly equitable funding, we must intentionally support those providers who have historically had the least funding stability, especially where they are serving low-income families. The SGCC grant focuses on supporting these providers.
- For those providers not eligible for SGCC, DEC will be extending CCRG funding for an additional six-months at 30% of initial CCRG funding in order to provide a more stable offramp of stabilization funds.
Application Timeline
- SGCC Round 3: August - October 2022 (Applications available May 31, 2022 - June 21, 2022)
- SGCC Round 4: November - January 2023 (Applications available in September)
- SGCC is being extended through June of 2023. We do not have details yet on grand and application time frames. We will update this as information is available.
Apply for a Strengthen and Grow Child Care Grant
Child Care Restoration Grant Extension
Since 2020, Child Care Restoration Grant funds have been available through the Gateways to Opportunity Director's Portal, administered by the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies. The purpose of these funds is to help sustain child care as the economy continues to reopen.
Round 6 2022 CCRG Extension - July, August, September, October, November, and December 2022
- Applications and opt-ins will open on July 25, 2022, and close on August 19, 2022.
- Grants will cover expenses from July, August, September, October, November, and December 2022.
- Programs found eligible will be paid 30% of the full monthly grant amount.
- Programs must have completed and accepted monthly reporting for all previous funded months to be found eligible for CCRG Extension (Round 6) funding.
- Programs cannot overlap CCRG and SGCC grant funds. If you received an SGCC grant for any of the months listed above, you are NOT eligible for the CCRG Extension Round 6.
- More details will be shared closer to the application open date.
Apply for a Child Care Restoration Grant Extension
Information About Relief Fund Spending To Date
As of July 2022, IDHS has invested over $980 million in federal relief funds in ensuring the recovery and sustainability of Illinois' child care field. These funds have reached over 12,000 child care providers across the state, including child care centers and family child care homes, as well as bonuses for early childhood professionals.
More information regarding these investments is available in dashboards and recipient lists for each of the different grant programs made available to date.
Child Care Restoration Grant and Strengthen and Grow Child Care Grant Data
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Child Care Workforce Bonus Programs
- CCWB Dashboard
- CCWB Recipient List
Strengthen and Grow Child Care Grant Program
Apply for a Child Care Restoration Grant
