For Immediate Release
March 5, 2024
COLUMBUS – Ohio families can breathe a little easier thanks to the hard work of several child care providers and parents affiliated with The CEO Project, a division of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. The group submitted testimony in August 2023 on proposed rule changes to the Child Care & the Development Block Grant and outlined ways the federal government could better support children, families and child care providers. On Friday, March 1, the federal Office of Child Care responded to the testimony and granted many of the things the child care providers from Ohio sought.
The Office of Child Care specifically wanted input from child care providers in Ohio, Georgia and Colorado about the impact of proposed changes on parents and providers. The CEO Project convened 12 leaders from cities such as Cincinnati, Columbus, Lima and Youngstown for input; 5 of them shared testimony with federal officials. They also urged child care advocacy organizations in Minnesota and other places to also submit testimony.
As a result of their advocacy, the Office of Child Care agreed to:
- Ensure equal access to child care by limiting copayment to 7%. (§ 98.45)
- Structure payment based on enrollment not attendance. Rather than require it outright, there is qualifying language “to the extent possible” but it is a step forward. (§ 98.15)
- Increase parental choice via the use of contracts and grants. (§ 98.30)
- Assume presumptive eligibility for 3 months prior to establishing eligibility. At a Lead Agency’s option, a child may be considered presumptively eligible for up to three months and begin to receive child care subsidy prior to full documentation and eligibility determination.
“Every child care worker knows what its like to care for a child, only to find out months later that the parent is not eligible for subsidized care, and the provider therefore doesn’t get paid. This isn’t right and the new rule change will give the state time to determine eligibility and will help ensure providers are not working for free,” said Tamara Lunan, director of The CEO Project.
“These changes are a major win for Ohio children and families, and could not have happened without the courage of parents and providers with The CEO Project,” Lunan added. “The CEO Project is the first ever grassroots effort led by women of color childcare providers in Ohio organizing for structural change to the childcare system. In July 2023, we urged our network of child care leaders with The CEO Project and our national partners to collect comments from other providers and parents about the proposed changes. We then submitted those comments for consideration to federal officials. We wanted to highlight the true impact of the rule changes on ordinary child care providers and parents who desperately need accessible early childhood education and care. This work is the direct result of childcare providers reclaiming their power and fighting for their communities.”
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