With an agreement reached on the California state budget, CCRC is celebrating a win for children, families and their child care providers.
In 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom promised to expand child care slots and fund the state’s emergency Child Care Bridge for foster children. These two critical programs were on the chopping block as state lawmakers faced a budget deficit heading into the new fiscal year.
But thanks to our partnership with the Early Childhood Education Coalition, we were able to stand up as a collective voice to demand funding on behalf of children and families.
The final agreement fully funds 11,000 child care slots that had been tentatively awarded to contractors this past winter. The additional expansion of slots will be paused for two years. Those extra slots will be subject to future budget appropriations
Funding for the Bridge program, which provides foster families with immediate child care, is also being preserved.
“On behalf of the Child Care Resource Center, we’d like to thank Governor Newsom and the California legislature for protecting services for children and families in this year’s budget agreement,” said CCRC VP and Chief Strategy Officer Donna Sneeringer. “Particularly, we’d like to thank them for securing funding for the emergency child care bridge for foster families and securing a plan to move toward new reimbursement rates in the coming years. We appreciate the leadership of the legislature, particularly the Women’s Caucus and we look forward to working with them as we move into the year ahead.”
Of course, our work is far from over. We’ll continue fighting for the funding California’s children and families need to thrive.
