HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — Many Texas parents know first-hand just how difficult it can be to find a daycare spot for your child -- and if you do, how expensive it is to pay for it.
Harris County just launched a new program designed to help some of those families.
Officials are now accepting applications for the Early REACH program, up to 1,000 free childcare spots, funded by federal dollars.
“It’s an investment in our children,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones told us on Inside Texas Politics. “It’s a win for the families.”
Briones says many parents had to leave the workforce during the pandemic, but it disproportionately affected women.
And this program, she says, will allow many of those moms to return to the workforce.
The county will use $26 million in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).
Critics of the program says it’s not a proper use of those dollars because they’re temporary. And once the well runs dry, critics fear those families may be left out in the cold.
Commissioner Briones argues that there is different federal funding that already exists they could tap into if the state can distribute it more efficiently.
And they’re hiring independent researchers to look at the program to determine what worked, and what didn’t.
The hope is the pilot will be so successful, additional investments will be easy to find.
“This pilot of the contract slot model will hopefully be a model that will more effectively have that federal to state to regional to local funding,” said Briones. “And so, there is a funding stream even after this exciting experiment that we’re doing with ARPA funds.”