ROCKPORT, Maine — It was quite a surprise for folks looking to work out or swim in the pool at the Penobscot Bay YMCA in Rockport Tuesday afternoon when Maine Gov. Janet Mills stopped in for a visit.
Mills made the trip to highlight her Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan’s investment in child care.
“It’s all about the kids every day in my administration,” Mills said following her tour of the facility. "Every parent should have the peace of mind that comes with knowing their child can learn and grow at a safe place while they’re at work.”
The Penobscot Bay YMCA offers infant, toddler, and preschool care as well as child watch programs. But Mills said there are still long waitlists filled with parents in need of child care here in Rockport and at the other YMCAs around Maine.
“Investments in early childhood education have powerful long-term paybacks both for our workforce and for our children and families," Mills said.
Mills' proposed Recovery Plan would invest more than $1 billion in industries across all sectors around the state and allocate $20 million in child care funding.
The federal aid would come from the American Rescue Plan Act and go towards improving, expanding, or building infrastructure facilities, offer stipends for child care workers, allow for child care co-pays for low-income families, and dozens of other strategies to improve the system.
Melissa Bellew, president and CEO of the Penobscot Bay YMCA, and Todd Landry, director of the DHHS Office of Child and Family Services, also spoke after the tour.
“Accessible child care is essential to a strong Maine economy and it’s essential to our recovery," Landry said.
Mills and Landry added upgrading, or building, infrastructure facilities will be a priority in Maine's rural communities while making child care more affordable will be a focus in the state's more urban areas.
The goal behind the investment in child care is long-term, Mills said. Investing in early education and quality child care will allow Maine's future generations to have a better chance of gaining crucial social, mental, and physical traits at a young age that would allow them to be a productive member of Maine's workforce in the future, the governor added.