ROCKPORT — With an entourage of press, and surrounded at the knees by babies, toddlers and preschoolers, Gov. Janet Mills announced Maine’s plan to make child care more available for working families.

She, along with Todd Landry, Director of the Office of Child and Family Services, arrived at the Penobscot Bay Area YMCA in Rockport soon after 1 p.m., and immediately headed downstairs, to the Y’s childcare center, meeting and greeting the children, who were curious, yet nonplussed by the swarm of adults that came to visit.

Through the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan, Gov. Mills said the state will invest $20 million to help Maine communities renovate, expand, or build new child care facilities and expand early childhood education programs. This is part of the Governor’s Child Care Plan for Maine that uses approximately $120 million in dedicated child care American Rescue Plan funds, on top of $50 million in previous COVID-19 pandemic assistance, to help Maine’s child care system recover and improve child care quality, accessibility, and affordability over the long-term.

Speaking in the parking lot of the YMCA to a small crowd of citizens and journalists, Mills referenced the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which said, “Research demonstrates child care problems lower worker productivity and cost U.S. employers and working parents billions of dollars annually. Furthermore, job stability and family income directly affect a child’s social, physical, and emotional health.”

She and Landry cited an analysis by the Bipartisan Policy Center that determined approximately 5,000 Maine children with working parents, mainly in rural areas, do not live near a child care program. The pandemic only constricted availability of child care.

Gov. Mills announced the investment at the Penobscot Bay YMCA, flanked by YMCA President and CEO Melissa Bellew, Landry, Representative Vicki Doudera, D-Camden,and Senator Dave Miramant, D-Camden.

Bellew said that her particular facility may have been forced to close during the pandemic.

“Thanks to the leadership and foresight of her administration, and their financial support for child care throughout this pandemic, this YMCA’s child care facilities in both Rockport and in Rockland remained open,” said Bellew. “Investment in child care growth and staffing will support our state’s families and drive our economy. Without safe and affordable child care, our socio-economic engine will grind to a halt. For us, nothing is more critical than providing quality, safe, affordable, accessible child care to our communities, and we look forward to what is available to child care sites like our Y through potential allocation of American Rescue Plan dollars.”

Bellew said the YMCA is grateful, “and our community is grateful.”

In 2020, Maine’s 16 YMCAs served more than 17,000 children, said Bellew, “and that was during a global health pandemic and a lot of COVID protocols in place. So imagine what we will do, and can do, again. Yet, collectively, Y’s and child care around the state struggle. We need support in looking at our child care staff needs as professional educators, paying them as such.”

The funding is to be used to build new child care sites – the “brick and mortar” projects, as well as program enhancements, and financially expanding child care access for parents. The latter includes waiving program fees for low income families, licensing fees for providers, and increasing subsidies by 35 percent to child care providers who take subsidies and serve children with special needs.

Quality improvements include increased training, and coordinating curriculum.

“Our economic recovery depends on every available person entering and staying in the workforce,” said Mills. “A lack of access to affordable child care should not be the barrier that keeps someone from starting a new business, from taking a new job, from moving to a rural community. It should not be a barrier to a child’s development. The Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan and the American Rescue Plan make the biggest investment in child care Maine has seen in decades. With these game-changing funds, we can give working families what they need to provide healthy, safe child care for their kids that allows them to go to work, bring home a paycheck, and strengthen our economy.”

The Governor’s proposed investment has the support of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said the Governor’s office.

“The expansion of quality child care for Maine’s workforce is a priority for the Maine State Chamber of Commerce,” said the chamber’s president, Dana Connors, in the governor’s announcement.  “Building a world class child care system is a key component of Maine’s 10-year economic strategy and plan. We applaud these investments proposed by the Governor in the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan as a critical step for getting us closer to reaching this important goal.”

Maine is expected to receive an additional nearly $120 million in federal funds through the American Rescue Plan for child care, as part of what the White House describes as the single biggest national investment in child care since World War II. This investment, combined with another estimated $8.4 million Maine expects to receive through an increase in federal block grant funding, totals nearly $130 million that Maine will use to support one of the goals of the Children’s Cabinet: increasing access to high-quality child care and expanding Maine’s child care workforce.

The state additionally maintains the Child Care Choices website, which allows families to locate and connect with providers in their area.