American Rescue Plan Act Checklists

American Rescue Plan Act Checklists Will Help Families, Schools & Local Governments To Access Critical Federal Funds

PHILADELPHIA (April 21, 2021)— The American Rescue Plan Act (Rescue Act) has all the potential to be a game changer for children and families but only if people access its full benefits.  PCCY developed comprehensive checklists to share widely as a resource for families, school districts, and counties and municipalities.  The checklists are available for download at https://www.childrenfirstpa.org/resource/the-american-rescue-act-plan-resources/.

  • Helping Families
    • There are thousands of dollars of resources available to families: a tax credit of at least $3,000 per child, food and health insurance benefits, and child care assistance and reimbursement, to name a few. But if families don’t know that help is there for them, they don’t know to access it.
  • Improving Schools
    • The Rescue Act delivers $1.95 billion total schools in Philadelphia, Chester, Montgomery, Delaware, and Bucks counties to help students catch up after months of remote learning.  Schools now have the money to offer summer learning and enrichment programs, hire temporary teachers, staff, and social workers, purchase technology, and make building repairs, giving our schools the “shot in the arm” they need to recover from pandemic setbacks.
  • Repairing Communities
    • The five southeastern Pennsylvania counties will receive $802 million, with an additional $1.5 billion going directly to local municipalities. That’s a lot of money that can be used to best meet the unique needs of local communities. There are tremendous opportunities to help child-serving organizations, boost the appallingly low pay of child care teachers, reduce lead poisoning, and help parents find jobs.