Parent Resources

Grant to Pay For Essential Workers Child Care Tuition

The Office of Children and Family Services and the Cuomo Administration have developed a plan to provide child care to essential workers at no cost to the worker. This allocation of funding comes to the state from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the "CARES Act"), which has provided our state with $163.6 million in emergency relief to the child care system.

New York State is using a portion of this funding to provide child care for essential workers, at no cost to the worker. This program will support essential workers who are required to work outside of the home. Essential workers using a licensed or registered child care provider will receive a scholarship for the cost of care through May 15th, 2020. All licensed and regulated providers who are caring for the children of essential workers are able to participate in this new program. The CARES Child Care Scholarship will be available as long as the funds to support it are available.  To apply, please complete this online survey.

Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (CCRRs) provide services to parents and daycare providers in every county of New York State.

If you are looking for child care, the CCRR in your county is a great place to start. They will ask you about the kind of care you are looking for, the ages of your children, the hours of care you need and other specifics such as any special needs your child might have. Based on that information, they will be able to give you a list of providers that most closely meet your needs.  

As part of the COVID-19 crisis, School Districts are being asked to build upon the partnerships with existing community-based organizations that are already licensed through the OCFS when developing child care plans for our community.  This is just one of the options our District can assist with ensuring our Emergency Responders and Health Care worker families have access to adequate daycare facilities.  

Below is a list of community partners who have reached out to us indicating they have the capacity to take on additional children in their programs:

• Blossoming Minds Early Childhood Learning Center in Fishkill
• Healthy Kids is offering Emergency Child Care for personnel who need to work during this pandemic. 
  • (Healthy Kids Press Release)
• Kidz Town of Dutchess, located on Route 9 in Wappingers Falls.  This program currently has room for up to 30 school-aged children.