The following broadcast was released by the Alaska Child Care Program Office on May 17, 2021
A Public Hearing will be held to provide interested persons an opportunity to comment and provide input on Alaska’s Draft 2022-2024 Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plan, which will be submitted to the federal Administration for Children & Families (ACF), Office of Child Care. The CCDF Plan is due this year on June 30, 2021.
The CCDF Plan is the primary mechanism that the ACF uses to determine Alaska’s compliance with the requirements of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 and associated Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) final rule of 2016. The CCDF Plan is used to describe to ACF Alaska’s progress on the following sections:
- Define CCDF leadership and coordination with relevant systems;
- Promote family engagement and consumer education;
- Provide stable child care financial assistance to families;
- Ensure equal access to child care for low-income children;
- Establish standards and monitoring processes to ensure the health and safety of childcare settings;
- Recruit and retain a qualified and effective child care workforce;
- Support continuous quality improvement; and
- Ensure grantee program integrity and accountability.
Alaska’s CCDF Plan serves as the State of Alaska, Department of Health & Social Services application for CCDF funds. This three-year plan describes the overall services and activities administered by the State of Alaska Division of Public Assistance, Child Care Program Office through the following programs: Child Care Assistance; Alaska Inclusive Child Care (Alaska IN!); Child Care Licensing; Child Care Grant; and Child Care Resource and Referral.
You may comment on the draft CCDF Plan by submitting written comments to the Department of Health & Social Services, Child Care Program Office, 3601 C Street, Suite 140, Anchorage, AK 99503. Additionally, the Department of Health & Social Services will accept comments by facsimile at (907) 269-4536 and by electronic mail at nicole.fritz@alaska.gov. The comments must be received not later than 5 p.m. on June 16, 2021.
Oral or written comments also may be submitted at the public hearing to be held from 1 to 2:30 pm on May 27, 2021, which will be held virtually.
WebEx Meeting: Click here
Meeting number: 133 079 8410
Password: CCPOplan! (22767526 from phones)
Join by phone: 1-650-479-3207 Call-in number (US/Canada)
Access code: 133 079 8410
You may submit written questions relevant to the plan to Nicole Fritz by email at nicole.fritz@alaska.gov or by mail at 3601 C Street, Suite 140, Anchorage, AK 99503. The Child Care Program Office will aggregate our response to substantially similar questions and make the questions and responses available on the Child Care Program Office website.
People who need accommodation to participate may contact Nicole Fritz by May 24 with a request at nicole.fritz@alaska.gov or (907) 419-4281 (Alaska Relay 7-1-1).
A copy of Alaska’s draft 2022-2024 CCDF Plan is available on the Alaska Online Public Notice System here, and on the Child Care Program Office website.
Sincerely,
Child Care Program Office