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A resolution appropriating $7,519,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds from Fund #30216 to increase access to existing high quality child care centers, provide more resources to home based child care, and invest in efforts to build capacity and build up high-quality child care programs.
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WHEREAS, on June 15, 2021, the Metropolitan Council passed Resolution RS2021-966, a resolution which accepted grant funds for local government support from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds established by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 ("ARP Funds") from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to The Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson Count, which was subsequently signed into law by Mayor John Cooper on June 16, 2021; and,
WHEREAS, Resolution RS2021-966 established a COVID-19 Financial Oversight Committee ("the Committee") whose role is to collect, consider, and recommend appropriate uses of the ARP Funds as designated by the Metropolitan Council disbursement plan. The Committee will submit its reports and recommendations to the Mayor, the Director of Finance, and the Metropolitan Council not later than June 30, 2025; and,
WHEREAS, there are federal requirements for use of ARP Funds that require that these funds be expended or obligated on or before December 31, 2024; and,
WHEREAS, the Committee recognizes that providing access to local childcare is a critical priority identified by the community and that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused negative financial effects on families across Davidson County; and,
WHEREAS, the Committee recognizes there is a gap between the cost of high-quality care and the State's increasing but inadequate reimbursement rate, as well as the cost to serve low-income families on a sliding scale, a population of families that live at or below 200% of the federal poverty line, and recognize far more childcare centers need to be incentivized to serve more families; and,
WHEREAS, the Committee recognizes that ho...
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