(AP) – A new $26 million federal grant is expected to take thousands of low-income children in Arkansas off of a waiting list for child-care vouchers.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced the new Child Care Development Fund block grant on Thursday. The grant will fund 3,800 more child-care voucher slots, which erases the list of the more than 2,0 children waiting for assistance due to funding constraints.
Now the number of children who can be served by programs for infants and toddlers, pre-kindergarten, after-school and summer break has increased from 5,300 to 9,100.
The vouchers pay for all or some of child-care costs for families earning less than 200 percent of the poverty level.
The funding is part of a budget deal President Donald Trump signed in February that increases the federal grant by $5.8 billion.
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