$300 million to be made available in new Illinois Child Care Recovery Grants

CHICAGO – Governor JB Pritzker and Illinois Department of Human Services Secretary Grace B. Hou announced that $300 million in new relief grants will be made available to child care providers across the state. The state is also extending a previous grant program by providing nearly $50 million to previous grant recipients. This brings the state’s child care pandemic relief grant total to more than $1 billion.
“Illinois was heralded as a leader in supporting our child care ecosystem at the beginning of the pandemic, and we never stopped – today we’re surpassing $1 billion in grant funding for providers since the pandemic began,” said Governor JB Pritzker.
Since the program began, $725 million in funding has reached more than 5,000 providers, with 85 percent of eligible child care centers and 40 percent of licensed family child care homes receiving direct relief.