Greenville County will use $2 million in coronavirus relief funds to expand childcare options while schools are operating on hybrid schedules.
The funding is expected to create temporary capacity for more than 9,400 elementary school children in the county at a time when most students are unlikely to attend school in-person for five days a week, officials said.
Greenville First Steps, a nonprofit organization focused on preparing children for school, and the YMCA of Greenville partnered with Greenville County Schools and county officials to craft the plan, which is intended to boost childcare capacity and provide support for families in the county for 10 weeks.
"We do not want our parents to have to choose between a job and a child," said Greenville County administrator Joe Kernell.
Typically during the school year, childcare centers have few or no school-aged children during the day but often care for them after school.
Derek Lewis, executive director of Greenville First Steps, said the funding will help those centers serve more children throughout the day by giving them grants they can use to boost workforce or buy supplies. The funding will also connect churches and other organizations with licensed childcare providers who can help turn the facilities into temporary childcare centers.
"We can match them with organizations like the Y, who can come in their church and provide a service, so that all they have to do it open their buildings and quality care can be provided there for their community," Lewis said.
The county received $91 million in federal funding from the Coroanvirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. The $2 million is in addition to $1.7 million the county provided childcare centers earlier this summer to help offset costs associated with the pandemic.
A portion of the money will be used to train workers and provide protective equipment that will allow the childcare providers to keep small class sizes and socially distance, to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus.
More parents need childcare while schools are on COVID-19 schedules
Lewis estimated that about 9,425 children will be in need of childcare based on the number of elementary-aged children in Greenville County Schools.
In June, the Greenville County school district administered a survey of nearly 28,000 parents where 39% indicated they might need childcare if schools don't fully reopen. A separate survey of more than 7,000 district employees showed that 20% said they would need childcare during the school year.
Cindy Weathers, owner of the Park Place preschool and childcare center in Simpsonville, said the center typically had the capacity to care for 28 school-aged children during after-school hours or on school holidays.
Now, Park Place has hired two employees with teaching degrees to help care for 41 school-aged children for any day that Greenville County schools aren't open full-time.
Under the school district's current schedule, students won't return full-time until spread of the coronavirus is low in the county. All South Carolina counties have had high spread of the virus for past couple of weeks, according to health officials.
More: Greenville County Schools approves reopening plan based on spread of coronavirus
Students will attend schools on an alternating schedule or do remote learning if spread is medium or high.
Weathers said Park Place plans to accommodate students who are learning remotely as well as those on a hybrid schedule.
"It's really quite a challenge, but we just know that parents have to have somewhere for their children to go — they can't all quit their jobs and help with eLearning on a random, unscheduled basis," Weathers said.
Here's how the $2 million will be used
Of the $2 million going to childcare centers, more than $1.3 million will go directly to childcare centers in the county in the form of one-time grants based on the number of school-aged children they can care for, according to First Steps' plan for the money.
First Steps projects 160 sites will be eligible for the funding and that it will help create slots for more than 9,400 children. Centers will be required to use 20% of their grants to help parents pay for childcare tuition.
An additional $375,000 will provide childcare financial assistance to families who live within 300% of the federal poverty line, as well as essential workers, Greenvilly County employees and school district employees who make less than $65,000 a year. Those families will receive $100 off of childcare every week for 10 weeks.
A family of four would need to make less than $78,600 to live within 300% of the federal poverty line.
Almost $200,000 will go to online and onsite programs, such as health and wellness activities, art and theater enrichment, and literacy and tutoring services, as well as training providers with an emphasis on child well-being and coronavirus safety precautions.
"There will be parts of the day where they need to do something other than sit in front of a computer," Lewis said. "So we've partnered with the Nonprofit Alliance to pair these providers with arts activities, enrichment activities, tutoring, also some outdoor activities just to get these kids doing something other than sitting in front of a computer for several hours a day."
Another $30,000 will go to equipping centers with items needed to care for school-aged children during the day as well as recruiting community partners and connecting them with the resources needed to become new childcare providers.
The remaining $25,000 will go to recruiting parents and marketing.
Lewis said any leftover money will likely go to providing more financial assistance to parents to pay for childcare.
Ariel Gilreath is a watchdog reporter focusing on education and family issues with The Greenville News and Independent Mail. Contact her at agilreath@gannett.com and on Twitter @ArielGilreath.
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