Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area Announces Child Care Tuition Scholarships to Support the Families of Essential Workers
Apr 13, 2020
Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area
CEDAR PARK, Texas ⎯ Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area (WSRCA) is pleased to announced that our partners at the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) have allotted an additional $40 million statewide to support our working communities and families, by providing child care tuition assistance for essential workers and providing supplemental payments to cover the parent share of the cost of childcare due to the COVID-19 crisis. WSRCA Child Care Services, or CCS, will be responsible for distributing the scholarship funds, which covers a portion or, in some cases, all of the costs for child care for children of essential workers under the age of 13. The funds can be used at any CCS-approved childcare provider throughout our nine-county workforce development region.
The announcement comes as Governor Greg Abbott introduced a new Frontline Child Care Website on April 10, to help essential workers in Texas locate child care and support child care centers who are caring for these children during the outbreak. The new online website, which integrates a mapping portal, allows essential workers to search for child care facilities near them, as well as facility operating hours and the number of seats available. Child care facilities are encouraged to register on the site and upload the number of seats available each week.
Essential workers can enroll their children in Rural Capital Area child care services by filling out the following CCS form:
COVID-19 Essential Worker Child Care Enrollment Form (English) (PDF)
COVID-19 Essential Worker Child Care Enrollment Form (Spanish) (PDF)
Then emailing the completed form to childcareconnect@ruralcapital.net
There are thousands of workers who will qualify as COVID-19 Frontline Essential Workers. In order to help prioritize available child care, TWC has advised that the following essential workers are given priority:
- Healthcare and pharmacy workers
- First responders
- Workers in child care services, in support of workers in other essential functions
- Critical infrastructure workers in grocery, utilities, and trucking
- Other identified infrastructure workers, which include critical state and local government staff; mail/delivery services; nursing homes, home health care and other direct care providers; banks; gas stations; military; and restaurants and other food delivery
“Child care is a critical work support for individuals who are essential workers during the COVID-19 outbreak,” said WSRCA CEO Paul Fletcher. “Although many of us can limit our public interactions and continue social distancing, we need to support those workers who are not able to stay at home with their families during this crisis. Early care and education child care providers are a critical component to support those workers, as they ensure safe, socially and emotionally supportive and structured learning environments are provided to children, who may also be experiencing heightened stress or anxiety during this time. We’re proud to utilize this additional funding to support our essential workforce, and build on the early care and education system already in place to support child care providers as small businesses in the community.”
For more information on COVID-19 Child Care Resources for Parents and Providers, as well as information for job seekers and employers, please visit the WSRCA website at www.workforcesolutionsrca.com, and the CCS Child Care Portal at http://childcare.workforcesolutionsrca.com/rcc.
Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area is Where Business and Careers Meet! We’re a nonprofit community partnership providing no cost recruitment, employment services and childcare assistance, to businesses, employers and job seekers in the Rural Capital Area of central Texas. This nine-county region includes Bastrop; Blanco; Burnet; Caldwell; Fayette; Hays; Lee; Llano; and Williamson counties. For more details on WSRCA, and the services it offers, visit www.workforcesolutionsrca.com.
