Childcare center in Waterbury gets funding from state to help support services

WATERBURY, CT (WFSB) - The state is putting more than $200,000 into a Waterbury childcare center.

Using federal funds, the Lamont administration has committed to bolster childcare statewide.

It’s part of the state’s strategy to help the economy.

Slocum School in Waterbury aims to create a comfortable environment for kids to develop in their early years.

“You can’t have a conversation, a meaningful solutions-based conversation around mental health, if you’re not starting in early childhood, if you’re not starting at childcare,” said David Morgan, President and CEO of TEAM Inc.

It’s one of Team Inc’s childcare centers in the Naugatuck Valley.

In them, the non-profit runs child development services for infants as young as six weeks to kids as old as 5 years.

Morgan said their services are geared toward working families.

Thanks to more than $200 million in federal funding coming to support childcare in Connecticut, the Lamont administration announced a $250,000 slice of it is going to Slocum.

The money will be used to support the services at the school, which includes a diaper bank for families and all the staff.

Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz said investing in childcare is critical to getting people back at work.

“Workforce training and our workforce pipelines need to work hand-in-glove with our childcare programs. So we have been exploring all kinds of ways to provide childcare,” said Bysiewicz.

The federal dollars being used for childcare in the state were provided by the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and The American Rescue Plan.

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