(Washington, DC) – Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser cut the ribbon of Two Birds, a new child care and co-working facility in Northwest DC that will add 72 new, high-quality child care slots for working DC families. Mayor Bowser’s Access to Quality Child Care Expansion Grant provided $330,000 for planning and construction of the new center, which offers working families a shared office space and a fully-licensed child care program.

“By investing in new and innovative child care facilities like Two Birds, we’re giving our youngest learners the strong start they deserve, while also supporting working parents as they try to balance location, convenience, and quality,” said Mayor Bowser. “Two Birds is one more example of how we can leverage all available resources, including local investments, federal grants, and private funding, to expand access to high-quality child care and make it easier for families to stay in DC.”

Mayor Bowser also announced that the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) is receiving a $1.7 million federal grant from the Office of Head Start. The grant, combined with local child care subsidy dollars and private funding, will be used to expand OSSE’s Quality Improvement Network (QIN), building capacity, increasing access, and enhancing the quality of care for infants and toddlers in DC. The QIN will provide high-quality, comprehensive, and continuous Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership services to three additional centers that will serve 72 vulnerable children in Wards 7 and 8.

“Research shows that high-quality infant and toddler care helps put children on a pathway to success in kindergarten and beyond,” said State Superintendent Hanseul Kang. “The QIN is building a city-wide service delivery system with high-quality child care that supports families in their role as their child’s first and most important teacher by providing evidence-based parent engagement and leadership opportunities and enhanced communications. The quality and level of services children and families receive, as well as the supports that the facilities receive, help to improve the early childhood experience for all classrooms at facilities participating in the QIN.”

The Access to Quality Child Care Expansion Grant, established in 2018, has provided nearly $3 million to create 558 infant and toddler child care slots. Mayor Bowser has charged her Administration with creating 1,000 new infant and toddler child care slots by September 2020.

Mayor Bowser’s Fiscal Year 2020 budget proposal makes significant investments to support DC families.

• $52 million to create new child care and early childhood education opportunities at the Old Randle Highlands School in Ward 7, the Old Miner School in Ward 6, and the Thurgood Marshall School in Ward 5.
• $2.5 million to make permanent the “Keeping Childcare Affordable” tax credit, which provides $1,000 per child for families with children enrolled in a licensed DC child care facility.
• $4.5 million to eliminate sales tax on diapers.