Background

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 was signed into law on March 11, 2021, issuing three streams of federal funding to states through the Child Care and Development Fund which include Supplemental Discretionary, Stabilization, and Mandatory/Matching funds. Stabilization funds support states in providing financial relief to child care programs by helping to defray unexpected business costs associated with the pandemic and to help stabilize child care program operations. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS), Office of Family Assistance, was approved through the State of Ohio Controlling Board to begin spending some of these federal stabilization relief funds. A new MPL will be issued to outline further sub-grant opportunities.

Support

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) has established several child care stabilization sub-grant opportunities. These sub-grants are available for ODJFS regulated child care centers, family child care (FCC) type A and type B homes, in-home aides (IHA), and approved day camps, as well as Ohio Department of Education (ODE) licensed preschool (PS) and school-age (SA) programs that are approved to provide publicly funded child care (PFCC). ODJFS regulated child care programs do not need to be participating in PFCC to be eligible to apply for these sub-grants, however, ODE programs must be approved to provide PFCC at the time of application.

The three sub-grant opportunities are Operating/New Pandemic Costs, Workforce Recruitment/Retention and Access Development. Each is based on program eligibility. Applications for these opportunities will be accessed in the Ohio Professional Registry. The chart below is a summary of the application and allowable expense periods. If a program is eligible for a sub-grant but does not believe they can spend the maximum funding amount provided, they can request up to the amount the program plans to spend or enter a $0 in the application if the program is not requesting a particular sub-grant.

Child care programs may use sub-grants to cover a range of expenses such as personnel costs; rent or mortgage payments; insurance; facility maintenance and improvements; personal protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-related supplies; training and professional development related to health and safety practices; goods and services needed to provide care; and reimbursement of costs associated with the current public health emergency as described in detail below. Child care programs may request one or more sub-grant categories at the time of application. Note eligible program types for each sub-grant.

1.Operating/New Pandemic Costs Sub-Grant (Centers, FCC, Approved Day Camps, IHA, and ODE PFCC PS and SA): Child care programs will be eligible for funds intended to provide assistance with costs incurred after the declaration of the federal public health emergency on January 31, 2020 to present. This sub-grant cannot be requested for items paid for using other grant dollars issued by ODJFS. Costs include:

• Personnel costs including wages or benefits such as health, dental, vision, paid sick leave or family leave, retirement contributions
• Ongoing costs such as rent, mortgage, utilities, insurance
• Facility maintenance, renovations, including those that address COVID-19 concerns as well as improvements that make child care programs inclusive and accessible for children and families with disabilities. Construction or major renovations are not permitted.
• Personal protective equipment, sanitizer, classroom dividers, cleaning supplies, temporary sinks, thermometers, and other expenses that facilitate business practices consistent with safety protocols.

Centers, FCC, Approved Day Camps, IHA, and ODE PFCC PS and SA programs must submit an application to be eligible.

2.Workforce Recruitment/Retention Sub-Grant (Centers, FCC, Approved Day Camps, and ODE PFCC PS and SA): This sub-grant will be used for personnel costs incurred on or after December 1, 2021 including:

• Increased wages
• Benefits such as health, dental, vision, paid sick leave or family leave, retirement contributions
• Sign-on and retention bonuses, ongoing premium or hazard pay, transportation costs to/from work
• Create substitute pools, provide administrative support
• Support to early childhood professionals through coaching as well as training and professional development on topics including: communicable disease, first aid, CPR, sudden infant death syndrome, medication administration, shaken baby syndrome, emergency preparedness and response planning, transportation, handling and storage of hazardous materials. This includes Ohio Approved training.
• Staff support to access COVID-19 vaccinations including paid time off for vaccine appointments and to manage side effects, transportation cost to appointments
• Background check expenses

Centers, FCC, Approved Day Camps, and ODE PFCC PS and SA programs must submit an application to be eligible.

3.Access Development Sub-Grant: Eligible ODJFS licensed program types are noted by each sub-grant. These sub-grants will be used for costs incurred on or after December 1, 2021 when:

• Expanding the number of current classrooms or reopening classrooms closed due to the pandemic to serve additional children or serve new age groups. This does not include construction to build a program
  • Adding or expanding infant/toddler, or school-age care, or care for children with special needs (Centers, FCC, or Approved Day Camps)
  • Expanding hours of operation to include non-traditional hours weekdays 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. or between 12:00 a.m. Saturday to 6:00 a.m. Monday (Centers and FCC)
• Increasing technology access by purchasing technology and new equipment for learning and development (Centers and FCC)
• Supporting programs serving school-age children in addressing learning gaps and meeting the social and emotional needs of school-age children. (Examples: after hours tutoring, partnering with speech and hearing, etc.) (Centers, FCC, Approved Day Camps, IHA)

Centers, FCC, Approved Day Camps, and IHA programs must submit an application to be eligible.

Qualification

Stabilization sub-grants are available by application to Ohio child care programs who qualify by meeting basic criteria outlined by the federal government. Child care programs are to be:

1.Licensed/certified/approved by ODJFS or ODE PFCC.

2.In “Open” status as verified in the Ohio Child Licensing and Quality System (OCLQS), in good standing as of the date of application, and serving children.

• Programs not in good standing who are not eligible include:
  • Programs in enforcement during the qualification period
  • Programs who have had their Provider Agreement for Publicly Funded Child Care terminated, within the five years prior to this application, due to misuse of funds.
• If a program is in good standing at the time of application but is later determined not in good standing prior to the funds being awarded, the funds will not be awarded.

3.Compliant with all applicable Ohio Administrative Code and Ohio Revised Code requirements which include Child Care and Development Fund health and safety requirements and the completion of comprehensive background checks.

4.In agreement with sub-grant terms by certifying that the child care program will, for the duration of the sub-grant:

• Use funds only for the categories and purposes indicated
• Implement required ODJFS policies including Ohio Administrative Code and Ohio Revised Code, orders from the State of Ohio, and to the greatest extent possible, implement policies in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC).
• Pay full compensation and maintain full benefits to staff and agree not to involuntarily furlough employees
• Implement a hiring bonus and a retention policy. This policy should include:
  • A 6-month period that the staff member agrees to remain with the program in exchange for receipt of Workforce Recruitment/Retention funds.
  • Date hiring bonus is issued.
  • A timeframe for payment issuance that is based upon completion of the retention period, which could be monthly
  • A written agreement requiring continued employment for hiring bonus and retention.

Application and Payment

Guidance and requirements will be available on OCCRRA’s website December 1, 2021, at www.occrra.org. Eligible providers must submit an application through the Ohio Professional Registry (OPR), via a program’s organization dashboard at https://registry.occrra.org/. Programs cannot exceed the maximum funding amount in the expense period for each sub-grant.

When applying for the ARPA stabilization sub-grants, applicants are required to provide owner/administrator demographics, program operational status, and program estimated monthly expense data as these items are federally required by ARPA.

Payments are based on the program's license capacity on November 28, 2021 for child care centers and ODE PFCC PS and SA programs. License capacity requests must have been submitted in OCLQS before November 15, 2021. If a program is licensed after that date, the payment is based on the capacity at the time of licensure. Payments will be processed approximately four weeks to six weeks after the application approval date. Programs can see the status of their application in the program’s organization dashboard in the OPR. Sub-grants will be awarded as long as funding from ARPA is available to ODJFS and appropriation to spend the funding is provided to ODJFS.

Reconciliation

Programs are required to submit a reconciliation for each payment received. Reconciliations will be located in the Ohio Professional Registry. Programs should retain receipts, invoices and documentation for expenses used toward these sub-grants. Reconciliation guidance will be located at www.occrra.org.

Questions

Please contact OCCRRA with questions at support@occrra.org or 1-877-547-6978.