The 2023 Child Care and Early Childhood Education law (Act 76) created the Readiness Payment Program to support family child care homes, center-based child care and preschool programs, and afterschool programs to "get ready" for the expansion of the Child Care Financial Assistance Program (CCFAP) and other changes in Act 76.
Between the months of September 2023 and April 2024, The Vermont Department for Children and Families implemented the Readiness Payment Program and distributed $21 million dollars to 808 eligible providers to assist in the stabilization, expansion and quality of child care, preschool, and afterschool programs. Providers and program leaders were encouraged to think strategically about how to invest these additional dollars to achieve their goals of serving children and families.
As part of our ongoing efforts to improve our services and to better understand the needs of early childhood and afterschool programs, we invite you to participate in a brief survey on how your program used the payments. Your feedback is invaluable to us, and it will help us identify areas where we can enhance our programs and better meet the needs of early childhood and afterschool programs