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Department of Defense selects Virginia for expansion of military child care assistance program

Posted at 2:03 PM, Oct 02, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-02 14:03:46-04

RICHMOND, Va. – Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday that the United States Department of Defense selected Virginia as one of two states to participate in a pilot expanding a military child care fee assistance program.

Previously, only a limited number of community child care providers were able to participate in the Military Child Care in Your Neighborhood program, which provides fee assistance to military families unable to access on-installation child care.

Through the new pilot, MCCYN-PLUS, Virginia licensed child care providers serving military families in the fee assistance program will be required to participate in Virginia Quality, the state’s quality rating and improvement system. The system assesses, improves and communicates the level of quality in early care and education programs.

According to Northam’s office, the ratings system will strengthen the quality of child care providers throughout the Commonwealth while also supporting the military community.

“The MCCYN-PLUS program will help ensure that more of Virginia’s military families have access to quality affordable child care,” said Secretary of Health and Human Resources Daniel Carey. “When a family has access to child care that promotes a child’s health, happiness, and development, it can lead to better health outcomes for the entire family.”

When launched in fall 2019, MCCYN-PLUS will immediately affect approximately 400 licensed child care centers currently participating in the MCCYN program, with a possible expansion to more than 800 additional eligible child care centers in regions with military presence.

For more information on the program’s expansion, click here.