Alabama childcare workers will soon get their 6th round of bonuses
The Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) will accept grant applications for child care staffing bonuses aimed at recruiting and retaining workers in the industry.
Licensed childcare providers have until March 17 to apply for this round of grants, which provide $3,000 in quarterly bonuses for full-time employees and $1,500 for part-time employees, DHR said in a press release on Monday.
The Child Care Workforce Stabilization grants, funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), were announced in November 2021. This will be the sixth of up to eight rounds of bonuses, expected to be finished by September.
The bonuses doubled last year from $1,500 to $3,000 for full-time childcare workers and $750 to $1,500 for part-time workers. As a quarterly bonus, a full-time childcare provider may receive up to $12,000 a year.
Rhonda Mann, executive director of Voices for Alabama Children, said that the bonus needs to be kept in place until child care work is better compensated. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Alabama child care workers made an average of $20,970 a year in May 2021.
“If you can imagine – childcare providers – many of those live under the poverty level,” said Rhonda Mann, executive director of Voices for Alabama Children. “You’re talking about maybe $25,000 a year, and $12,000 in bonus cash. That’s half of what they make.”