Care4Kids Update

Thank you to everyone who has made calls to their House and Senate members, as well as to the Governor's Office. We have received feedback from a number of people who were told by the Governor's Office that there was nothing they could do and the budget wasn't going to be reopened. It can feel defeating, but the calls really are important. Outreach shows that this is an important issue to state residents. Some feedback we've received has been about positive responses from legislators and we continue to plan meetings across the state to facilitate discussion with parents, providers, legislators and advocates.

Upcoming Care4Kids legislative meetings are scheduled for:

• Wednesday, June 22, 5:30 p.m., at St. Paul's Child Development Center, 1475 Noble Avenue, Bridgeport. Please RSVP to [email protected] 
• Monday, June 27, 5:30 p.m., Silva's Youth of Today Childcare Learning Center, 656 Silver Lane, East Hartford, CT 
• Tuesday, June 28, 10 a.m., at Sleeping Giant Day Care, 11 Pine Street, Hamden
• Tuesday, June 28, 5:30 p.m., South Norwalk Community Center, 98 South Main Street, Norwalk
• Thursday, June 30, 5:30 p.m., YWCA, 19 Franklin Square, New Britain

CT Voices for Children penned an Op-Ed to the Hartford Courant regarding the Care4Kids changes.

We urge you to sign the CT Early Childhood Alliance's petition, as we call on our U.S. Senators and members of Congress to increase federal appropriations for CCDBG to cover the costs required by the 2014 reauthorization. Please share it with your friends and family and ask them to sign it, too. 

We have created a section on our website that includes the petition and our position statement. It can be found HERE. We invite organizations to sign onto the position statement. Please contact us if you would like to be included.

Care4Kids Update

There will be a veto session on Monday - please make THREE phone calls before Monday - your House and Senate members and the Governor's Office (860-566-4840or toll-free 800-406-1527). Urge them to fix the Care4Kids shortfall that will result in 4,450 families losing their childcare subsidy. Click HERE to look up your legislators by town. To see how many families will be affected in your town, click HERE. If the changes will impact your family, please tell your legislators and the Governor your story. Throwing families who rely on Care4Kids off the program is not the answer. 

Care4Kids Update

Last week, the Office of Early Childhood announced significant changes coming to the Care4Kids program as of July 1, 2016. These changes could impact 7,200 working families over the next year. 

Income eligibility for new families will change from less than 50% to a maximum of 30% of the State Median Income (SMI).  Based on the current SMI for a family of three, annual household income eligibility would be reduced from $44,601 to $26,760.

Families currently holding a Care 4 Kids certificate, things will remain unchanged until they reach the end of the 12 month certificate. At that point, they would need to meet the 30% or under SMI requirement when they reapply for a new certificate.

This is the result of changes required under the CCDBG Reauthorization of 2014. There were many positive changes made in that law, but Congress failed to fully fund the cost, resulting in the shortfall Connecticut now faces. 

We urge you to sign the CT Early Childhood Alliance's petition, as we call on our U.S. Senators and members of Congress to increase federal appropriations for CCDBG to cover the costs required by the 2014 reauthorization. Please share it with your friends and family and ask them to sign it, too.