Greenville Childcare Scholarship Funding Extended

Under the CARES act, the Greenville County leaders are making sure that childcare amidst the COVID-19 pandemic is covered for as many families as possible.

Derek Lewis with Greenville First Steps in an interview said that Greenville County Council approved an expansion of the funds to $775,000 in order to cover 775 families in the county.

Lewis said the project to provide scholarships for childcare had hit its original $375,000 limit for several families within five days.

Lewis broke down where the monies went:

• $133,000 went to help the families of 133 Greenville County Schools employees, with nobody on the waiting list
• $72,000 went to help the families of 72 Greenville County employees, with nobody on the waiting list
• $293,000 went to 293 scholarships for children of parents classified as essential workers, with 111 families on the waiting list in this category
• $132,000 went to 132 scholarships for children of families at or below the 300% Federal Poverty Level, with 41 families on this waiting list
• $100,000 funded 100 scholarships to the YMCA of Greenville. While the YMCA has their own scholarship distribution system, and while the YMCA is funding scholarships in the above categories, they don’t have to report their numbers until after Labor Day and have funded the full amount
• Additionally, another $43,000 is pending and should be awarded soon, mainly to children of essential workers and GCS employees

Lewis says there are different sites in the county-operated by an independent operator that will provide school-age care during weeks when students can’t go back to the classroom for five days in a week. 

He added that the Greenville First Steps aims to recruit and equip 150 locations across Greenville County, serving 9,000 students by September 30. Currently, there are 95 sites serving 3,525 students, with more coming online daily. 

Click here for the updated directory of childcare sites being added.