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In just the first six months of the pandemic, the nation’s childcare and early learning industry shrank by 20%. Instructors, whose pay was already at or below minimum wage, were particularly hard hit. In 2021, legislators in a southeastern state initiated a grant program to provide disaster relief funds to the state’s childcare and early learning instructors.
Under the program, more than 86,500 instructors across the state’s K–12, Title 1, Head Start and early learning centers were eligible for $2,000 each. The funds would need to be distributed in two payments of $1,000. The formidable task had fallen to the Division of Early Learning (DEL), a branch of the state’s Department of Education.
DEL oversees the state’s School Readiness Program, its Voluntary Pre-kindergarten Education Program and its Child Care Resource and Referral services. How would it also manage, with its limited time, funds and staff, to quickly distribute the two tranches of money among so many people? A change in life circumstances would add a layer of difficulty to the challenge (e.g., intended recipients who no longer work for the state or have changed addresses).
DEL sought the assistance of Ernst & Young LLP (EY US), and they began collaborating on the two-part project on June 16, 2021. The EY US team understood that time and funding constraints would require a process that, in addition to being secure, was streamlined, flexible and swift. All involved felt a sense of urgency about getting relief money to the state’s childcare and early learning instructors and directors.