RFA 1278 Child Care Support Centers (Reissue)

The New York State (NYS) Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) mission is to serve New York's public by promoting the safety, permanency, and well-being of the children, families, and communities of New York State (NYS). OCFS has released this request for applications (RFA) to solicit competitive applications from child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agencies to establish child care support centers (CCSC). CCR&R agencies are established not-for-profit, community-based organizations that provide services to support the child care infrastructure. CCR&Rs awarded under this procurement will receive funding to establish a CCSC. Each CCSC will administer a regional child care substitute pool to support the daily operations of OCFS licensed/registered child care programs. The addition of child care substitute pools will provide qualified professionals to licensed and registered child care programs. This will allow providers to utilize substitute caregivers to fill in when necessary to provide continuity of care for families and maintain child care operations. The CCSCs will receive technical assistance and relevant technology to support the implementation of the substitute pools from the Early Care and Learning Council (ECLC). Up to four awards will be made statewide with a maximum of one award per OCFS-defined region to an established CCR&R currently serving that region. The total funding for this project is anticipated to be $12.5 million over five years ($2.5M per year), which will be divided equally among the awarded contractors, anticipated to be $625,000 per awardee annually.