Olympia – Today, the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) announces the Fall Child Care COVID-19 Grant for licensed child care providers. The grant will help child care providers offset increased costs associated with the pandemic and incentivize providers to serve school-age children.

The DCYF Fall Child Care COVID-19 Grant is available to licensed providers who agree to remain open and serve children through the end of the 2020-2021 school year and who meet one of the following criteria:

• Sustainability Criteria: Providers who have been open and providing care throughout the pandemic and did not previously receive a DCYF Child Care COVID-19 Grant. *Open providers that did previously receive a DCYF Child Care COVID-19 Grant may be eligible for a difference payment if the grant amount was less than the amount currently offered.
• Reopening Criteria: Providers who were temporarily closed and have now opened and did not receive a previous DCYF Child Care COVID-19 Grant because they were closed. Providers must be open at the time of their application. *A provider is not eligible for this grant if they received a previous DCYF Child Care COVID-19 Grant and then closed their license.
• Expansion Criteria: Providers who started serving school-age children or who are newly authorized to serve children accessing subsidy, or expanded how they offer care (such as expanded hours, serving school-age children full-day instead of before and after school) as a result of the pandemic. *Newly licensed providers as of July 1, 2020, or later may be eligible for a grant.

To determine eligibility, providers can refer to this DCYF Fall Child Care Grant Eligibility Flowchart. Interested providers will log into the WA Compass Provider Portal and select the DCYF Fall COVID-19 Grant pop-up to apply for the grant. 

The grant closes on Wednesday, Nov. 25, at 11:59 p.m.

For more information and resources, visit the DCYF Fall Child Care COVID-19 Grant webpage.

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