Viktoria Martinez pops into the toddler room at First Step Daycare in Belvidere, where she's the program director. A group of 2-year-olds are sitting in a circle on a colorful carpet.
It's their morning learning time, with many activities both in English and Spanish. Today, they're naming animals and shouting out the sound they make.
Last month, The Trump administration tried to freeze $1 billion in federal funding for Illinois child care. Courts have blocked it so far. The program that would be hit hardest is Illinois' Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP).
Martinez says 94% of their families rely on the Child Care Assistance Program. So, if the funding freeze were to go through, "We'd shut down," she said. "100% we'd have to shut down because we can't afford to pay the bills.”
It’s not just them. Other Illinois child care facilities have said they’d close down too. They often run on very slim margins, so any disruption could put them at risk.
In total, CCAP subsidizes child care for around 100,000 low-income families in Illinois across thousands of child care facilities.
Kelsey Bakken is the director of policy at Advance Illinois, an education advocacy group. She says the administration didn’t try to directly cut funding for CCAP, but it targeted three programs, two of which fund the Child Care Assistance Program.
“It totals around 60% of the revenues that we have to fund CCAP," said Bakken, "so it is a significant portion."
The Trump administration claims the freeze is because of widespread fraud but Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin says they haven’t shown any evidence.
“The audits go on by the state and federal government all the time, looking over their shoulders to make sure they're following the law," he said on a recent visit with childcare leaders in Rockford, "There is no waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Viktoria Martinez at First Step says she was confused when she heard about the fraud allegations.
"When I fill out my paperwork, there's so many checks and balances in place," she said. "It's like, ‘What time does your child get to the daycare? What time do you work? How far away is your work from the actual daycare?’”
Families have to fall under certain financial thresholds to qualify for CCAP. A recent report from the Illinois Answers Project found Illinois’ eligibility limits are considerably stricter than even federal recommendations.
But, for families who are approved, it can make a huge difference. Martinez says it’s not that CCAP makes child care free. It’s a sliding scale based on income.
“With two working parents that work decent hours and a decent job, the highest I've seen is like $400 a month," she said. "The lowest I've seen is like, a single mom, minimum wage, $1 a month.”
Benita Pedroza is a single mom with two kids who go to First Step. She moved to Illinois last year and doesn’t have family in the area, so she was worried she wouldn’t be able to find child care she could trust that she could also afford.
“They were estimating me, for the private prices, at like $500 a week," said Pedroza. "I was like, well, realistically, I'm not going to make that much money, so it's just best for me to stay home if I have to pay this. But then when we did CCAP, it went from $500 a week to just $200 a month. So, I am literally saving thousands of dollars on child care for my girls.”
Her co-pay recently dropped to $80 a month. If she didn’t have CCAP, it would be $2,000 a month.
“I was so happy," she said. "I cried when they told me that we were accepted, because it's just a good opportunity for the girls."
Pedroza was stressed when she heard about the potential freeze. She started looking for jobs she could do from home while also looking after her girls. It’d been so hard to find a place like First Step and now she might have to start over without the extra financial support.
“I just knew that my girls were in a good place, especially when they didn't cry," she said, remembering the first time she left them at First Step. "I drop them off, and they're happy to be there.”
Earlier this month, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in the case, so funding has been flowing normally and First Step hasn’t shut down.
The injunction will remain in place until the full case is decided. In total, the Trump administration tried to freeze $10 billion in child care funding in California, Colorado, Minnesota, New York and Illinois. That includes $1 billion for Illinois alone.
