Title
Recognizing the Important Work of the Child Care Facilities Fund.
Body
WHEREAS, High quality child care is an essential educational support to Philadelphia's 111,000 children from birth to age five, improving their chances to succeed academically, graduate from high school, and become productive and responsible citizens; and
WHEREAS, Child care is an essential support for Philadelphia's parents, enabling them to pursue activities that strengthen their families' economic security with the assurance that their children are being cared for in safe and healthy environments; and
WHEREAS, Many child care programs are not fully able to invest the total funds necessary to make the major repairs and facility improvements that are required to continue eligibility for state licensing and other state and federal support as well as safer and better environment for the children in their care; and
WHEREAS, The Child Care Facilities Fund was created with a $5 million investment from the City of Philadelphia in 2003 to improve child care quality by providing grants, loans and technical assistance to child care programs in Southeastern Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, Under the management of the Non-Profit Finance Fund it has leveraged more than $7 million in state and private contributions enabling over 400 child care providers serving 14,000 children to make needed repairs and improvements and become eligible for licensing and quality incentives, including additional state and federal support; and
WHEREAS, Research continues to prove that investing in high quality child care has an excellent return to the educational, social and economic aspects of a community; and
WHEREAS, Strengthening the child care industry is an important part of the City's economic development through affording working parents child care as well as providing jobs and small business viability; and
WHEREAS, The City Council of Philadelphia strongly supports high quality child care...
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