Program Details

The State of Hawaii Department of Human Services has received funds through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 to provide assistance to licensed child care providers experiencing financial hardship and child care market instability due to COVID-19. Funds are intended to cover the financial obligations of continuing operations, preventing permanent closures, and/or enabling programs to reopen safely and with financial resources to Hawaii’s families.

To be eligible for this program, you must:

Be a licensed, registered, and regulated Child Care Provider as of March 11, 2021.
Have a Federal Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN). This can be an Employer Identification Number (EIN) or a Social Security Number (SSN) if you are a sole proprietor.
Be currently open and available to provide services, or be temporarily closed due to public health, financial hardship, or other reasons related to the COVID-19 health emergency, but with plans to reopen within 60 days from receiving grant funds (or as otherwise approved by DHS in writing).

Applicants will be required to provide the following documentation with their application:

Completed W-9 Form (blank copy here)

The W-9 form should include the name associated with the Federal Taxpayer Identification Number of the Provider for which the application is being submitted. This means that if you are a sole proprietor and you file business taxes using your Social Security Number, your name should be on the W-9 form. If you use an Employer Identification Number to file your business taxes, the legal name of the business should be on the W-9 form.
The W-9 form must be signed (ink and digital signatures are both accepted).

Proof of Identity

Scanned copy of the front of the applicant’s valid Hawaii driver’s license or alternate government ID.
The name on this ID should match the name of the person submitting the application.

Bank Verification

Scanned copy of a voided check (for a checking account) or a deposit slip (for a savings account).
This should be the bank account information where the award payment(s) should be sent.

Subgrant funds may only be used for the categories listed below. Any remaining unspent funds must be returned to the State of Hawaii Department of Human Services by 3/31/23. Records and documentation will be required in order to prove the use of funds.

Personnel costs, including payroll and salaries or similar compensation for an employee, and benefits
Rent or payment towards mortgage obligations, utilities, facility maintenance or improvements, or insurance
Personal protective equipment, cleaning, and sanitization supplies and services
Staff training and professional development related to health and safety practices
Purchase or updates to equipment and supplies to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency
Goods and/or services necessary to maintain or resume child care services, including consultations with nurses or other medical professionals to ensure a healthy environment
Mental health support for children and employees
Reimbursement of expenditures incurred prior to March 11, 2021 for goods or services procured to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency

Click Apply Now on this page to start a new application. If you are responsible for more than one Provider, you will be able to submit an application for each Provider using the same login account. If your Provider includes more than one Site and/or Service, you will need to provide the relevant information for each Site/Service in order to successfully complete and submit your application. Partially completed applications will not be processed. THE STABILIZATION GRANT APPLICATION IS AVAILABLE THROUGH 11:59 P.M. FEBRUARY 15, 2022. ANY APPLICATION RECEIVED AFTER THE DEADLINE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Once you have clicked Save on Section 1 of the application, you can re-access your application at any time from the Manage Existing Applications page. You can also see the status of your application at any time from that page. Please see below for more details on the different application statuses.

After you submit your application, you will receive an email confirmation. If we need any further information from you or need you to fix or update your application, we will send you a follow-up email with directions for logging back into the portal and viewing our specific follow-up request. We may take a couple of weeks to process your application.

You will receive an email if your application is approved, which will detail award amounts by Site/Service, along with instructions for providing evidence later on about how you spent the funds.

Application Status	Description
Draft	Application has been started but not submitted.
Submitted	Application and supporting documents are ready for processing.
Under Review	Application and supporting documents are processing.
Follow-Up	Additional information is requested and must be provided by the applicant in order to continue processing.
Awaiting Decision	Application has completed processing and is waiting for a final decision on approval or denial.
Denied	Application has been denied.
Pending Signature	Application has been approved for payment but pending the applicant’s signature for the acceptance letter shared via email.
Approved	Application has been approved for payment and applicant has signed the acceptance letter.
Processing Payment	Payment is being processed.
Paid	Payment has been distributed and accepted.
Cancelled	Application has been cancelled by the applicant.

If you are a licensed, regulated, and registered Child Care Provider, you may be eligible to receive a per-child amount based on service type and licensed capacity. Providers can receive additional funds if they are used for specific purposes (e.g., staff bonuses, nontraditional child care hours).

The formulas for the awards are as follows:

Provider Type		Base Award Amount per Child
IT	Infant / Toddler Centers	$4,400
GCC	Group Child Care / Preschool	$2,800
FCC	Family Child Care	$3,800
GCH	Group Care Home	$3,800
BAS	Before / After School Programs	$650
A+	A+ Programs	$650

Add-On Award Type	Add-On Award Amount
Employee Retention (per Employee)	$2,500
Nontraditional Child Care Hours (open on the weekends and after 6pm Mon-Fri), excluding scheduled closures (e.g., for holidays or vacations)	$30/hour

Any unclaimed or unexpended funds at the end of the program will be re-distributed to eligible providers.

Upon application approval, funding awards will be processed and distributed by the State of Hawaii Department of Human Services directly to the payment information provided via direct deposit.

Additional Disclosures

Additional Terms and Conditions for all applications are located here. When you submit an application, you agree to these Terms & Conditions, so please make sure you read them before you apply. Here are some additional details about the funding source for this program:

Federal award identification: ARPA Child Care Stabilization Funds
FAIN number: 2101HICSC6
Federal award date: April 14, 2021
Federal award project description: The Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) is the primary federal funding source to help certain low-income families access child care and to improve the quality of child care for all children. As a block grant, CCDF gives funding to States, Territories, and Tribes to provide child care subsidies primarily through vouchers or certificates to low-income families. In addition, CCDF funds are used to improve the quality of child care for both subsidized and unsubsidized children. CCDF consists of both Discretionary funding authorized by the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act and Mandatory and Matching funding under the Social Security Act. The CCDBG was created by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-508) and is subject to annual appropriations. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (P.L. 104-193) consolidated funding for child care under the Social Security Act, where CCDF mandatory and matching funding is authorized, and made such funding generally subject to the requirements of the CCDBG Act. The Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014 (P.L. 113-186) reauthorized the discretionary portion of CCDF through FY 2020 and made significant changes to improve the health, safety, and quality of child care and provide more continuous child care assistance to low-income children and families. In addition to the block grants to States, Territories and Tribes, a small portion of the CCDF is used by the Office of Child Care to provide technical assistance to grantees on administering the program. A small portion of CCDF is also used for child care research, demonstration and evaluation activities. The Discretionary portion of the CCDF funds provides about $5.9 billion in federal funding per year for child care. Additional funding is provided by state matching and maintenance of effort funds, as well as funds transferred from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Further, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) (P. L. 116-136) was enacted March 27, 2020 and appropriated an additional $3.5 billion in supplemental CCDF Discretionary funds to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act (P. L. 116-260) was enacted December 27, 2020 and appropriated $10 billion in supplemental CCDF Discretionary funds to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 (P. L. 117-2) was enacted March 11, 2021 and appropriated $38,965,000,000 through two funding streams in supplemental CCDF Discretionary funds and include: $14,990,000,000 (Section 2201) for CCDF Supplemental Discretionary Funds, available until September 30, 2024; and $23,975,000,000 (Section 2202) for child care stabilization grants available until September 30, 2023. Requirements for competitive grants including research grants vary and can be found in the Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs). There was an increase in mandatory and matching funding for CCDF, which is a permanent annual appropriation and is detailed in CFDA 93.596.
Federal awarding agency: Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Pass-through entity: N/A
CFDA number: 93.575
CFDA name: Child Care and Development Block Grant
R&D designation: N/A