FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Parents in Fayetteville can now continue to apply for the Childcare Assistance Program, thanks to the Fayetteville City Council approving using $185,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds to continue to fund the program.
The program is for families who live, work, or go to school in Fayetteville. Families will receive up to 12 monthly payments for childcare assistance which are made from the city to the childcare facilities in Fayetteville. In 2022 and 2023, the city council approved $2,000,000 to fund program, but more help is needed.
"If they are able to get some assistance with childcare, they're able to get in the workforce, and maybe they get a step ahead of where they were before," said Councilmember Scott Berna.
"Unfortunately, many families are having to decide whether they pay rent or whether they pay childcare," Councilmember D'Andre Jones added. "Childcare and rent are sometimes costing about the same."
Yolanda Fields, Community Resource Director for the City of Fayetteville, said they were currently $50,000 short of money and couldn't provide to all parents who applied to the program.
"We've been cycling through and at this point we have applications, and not enough funding for some of the applications that we have," Fields explained. "You need to be there when individuals need the assistance, and it has to be a process that that moves as quickly as possible."
Since the program first started in January 2023, it has served 150 families and over 200 children.
"I did not realize how burdened these families are," Fields said. "The comments coming back were just incredible, not only from the participants, but from the service providers."
Now that they've received more funding from the city, they can start taking applications this week.
"The economy is not great. We know that we have a lot of folks that are struggling. We have families with children that are trying to make ends meet, and childcare is a huge burden," Fields said. "Some of our participants, we're talking like $2,500 a month."
She said this program will continue to help the residents that need it the most and help Fayetteville's future grow.
"How can we help Fayetteville to continue to be the great place that it is to live? We need to all be working together, thinking about our neighbors, and thinking about our community members that need that little extra bit of help," Fields said.
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