American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was developed to create and save jobs during the recent economic downturn. ARRA funding will support children and families by investing in Wisconsin’s infrastructure and by stabilizing state and local governments.

Head Start and Early Head Start

Head Start programs promote school readiness and provide a comprehensive array of health, nutritional and social services to eligible 4 and 5 year olds and their families. Early Head Start serves children from birth to three years of age, supporting healthy prenatal outcomes, enhancing the development of infants and toddlers and promoting healthy family functioning.

More than $9.7 million in ARRA funding will expand Head Start programs and create new Early Head Start programs. The dollars will allow programs to serve more children, hire additional teachers, extend hours of operation and upgrade transportation.

Child Care

The Department of Children and Families helps more than 60,000 children in 34,000 families access child care through the Wisconsin Shares program. ARRA funding will provide a temporary increase to the Child Care Development Block Grant to improve child care quality and allow more low-income families to receive child care.

Community Services Block Grant

The Community Services Block Grant provides assistance to Community Action Agencies (CAAs) across the state to reduce the causes and conditions of poverty. ARRA funding will make more than $12.3 million available to Wisconsin CAAs for services that address employment, education, housing, nutrition, emergency services and health.

Strengthening Communities Fund

ARRA funding will strengthen non-profit organizations by increasing their capacity to provide social services for low-income communities. Grants will be competitively awarded to build capacity for existing organizations or to develop Strengthening Communities Offices. Applications are due by July 7.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

ARRA funding will allow DCF to create an emergency contingency fund to meet the needs created by increased caseloads in TANF programs, including basic assistance, non-recurrent short-term benefits and subsidized employment. Funding will reimburse the state for 80 percent of increased expenditures.

Child Welfare

ARRA funding will provide more than $14 million to assist with costs related to the placement of children in foster homes or other types of out-of-home care under a court order or a voluntary placement agreement. The increase is for foster care, adoption and guardianship assistance payments and excludes administrative expenses.