Press Release:  Don’s Destruction: Trump’s Threats to Child Care Funding Put Southern Illinois Families At Risk

East St. Louis, IL — After the Trump administration froze approximately $1 billion in child care funding from over 152,000 children in Illinois, Illinois Attorney General Raoul immediately took the administration to court and a federal judge issued an order temporarily halting the freeze for 14 days. As the fate of the funding remains uncertain, 80% percent of children at UNI-Pres Kindercottage in East St. Louis need this federal funding, and the business is one example of many bracing for devastating impacts.

In response, Democratic Party of Illinois Chair Lisa Hernandez said the following:

“What are parents supposed to do when they can no longer afford child care or if centers shut down? Quit their jobs and stay home? That’s the reality families are facing in Southern Illinois right now, while also going up against higher everyday costs as a result of this administration’s failed economic agenda. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul is leading the charge to make sure our state’s families have access to child care and aren’t used as political pawns.”

Key excerpts from Belleville News-Democrat: Metro-east families fear possible funding freeze could end their child care aid

By Madison Lammert

• If the freeze ultimately goes through and funds are not released, the effects will be far-reaching, said Janice Moenster, Brightpoint’s director of programs and operations for the southern region of the state. If families cannot pay for child care, child care businesses will close. Without accessible child care, parents may be forced to leave the workforce, causing local economies to suffer, Moenster said.

• In the case of the Child Care and Development grants, the U.S. Administration for Children and Families requested “additional fiscal accountability requirements” regarding attendance and payment information. Moenster said she finds this last part particularly confusing. Her understanding, she said, is that Illinois already meets these requirements. “We have so many safeguards in place that it’s hard to imagine what else is needed to document and verify,” Moenster said.

• “We’re spiraling families downward, and that’s not the American way,” Hart [Executive Director of UNI-Pres Kindercottage] said. “We are supposed to be uplifting communities, not putting in rash decisions …. That would ultimately weaken the community and the economic structure of working families that need support.”

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