Paul Bass File Photo
Dwight Montessori Class of 2017 on the graduation march.
The Dwight neighborhood is primed to create 46 pre-school slots for infants and toddlers and 20 full-time jobs thanks to a $600,000 federal grant.
New Haven U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, announced the Community Economic Development grant, which is coming through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The grant goes to the Greater Dwight Development Corporation, which operates the Montessori School on Edgewood Avenue.
The money will support 16 on-site child-care slots plus five family child-care businesses, launched in partnership with the group All Our Kin, to create another 30 slots.
“The project will also leverage an additional $2,400,652 and create 20 new, full-time education jobs, 15 of which will be filled by individuals with low income,” states a release DeLauro’s office sent out on Thursday.
“The United States has been teetering on the brink of a child care crisis, but now, the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed us over the edge,” the release quotes DeLauro saying. “Even before the pandemic, affordable child care was already a significant and severe issue. With rising costs, people are struggling to pay their bills and struggling to keep their kids in child care. If parents do not have a safe, affordable place to send their kids, they will not be able to work. Access to child care is an economic issue that cannot be ignored.”
Awesome! Now let's pay childcare workers a living wage. They and school workers are essential workers to our economy.