Creating More Safe Places for Children to Learn and Grow

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

I truly understand how important it is to have affordable and accessible childcare for Maine parents. You know, when I met and married my husband, Stan, he was a widower with five daughters, ages 4 to 16. So overnight, I became the stepmother to five girls, while at the same time serving as the elected District Attorney -- for Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties -- a full-time job.

Parents across the state of Maine need consistent, affordable care for their children, not just so they can go to work, but so their children can learn and grow in a safe place, especially in the early years before they're old enough to go to school.

Research shows how very important those earliest years are -- they tell us that a child's brain forms over a million new neural connections every second during their earliest years of life. Early childhood education is critical to teach those early skills like recognizing letters and sounds, and understanding and managing emotions, and building relationships with others -- socialization that children need as they grow. That's why my administration has invested more than $145 million in state and federal funding to strengthen the child care system in Maine and start and expand Pre-K programs in Maine for all who want it.

Recently, I visited child care facilities and early childhood programs in Sanford, and East Millinocket, and Windham. I visited the new child care center in Windham with infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms and outdoor spaces for kids to explore. That was built with $250,000 in federal funding from my administration. This project in Windham is just one of nearly 300 child care facilities and family child care providers who received grants through my Jobs Plan.

RSU 14, serving students in Raymond and Windham, also got a grant of more than $110,000 through my jobs plan to expand Pre-K at two local child care programs. And the district got another $50,000 through the American Rescue Plan from the Maine Department of Education to open and furnish a brand new Pre-K classroom at Raymond Elementary School.

Creating safe places where kids can learn and grow does more than just support kids. It ensures that parents can go to work, that they can earn a living, that they can contribute to a strong economy. So I am proud of the high quality child care and early childhood education programs that my administration has helped create over the past several years, more than more than 6,000 child care slots across the State of Maine.

That's a lot. But I also know that child care providers have challenges. As someone who helped raise five daughters, and as someone who is now a grandmother to five kids, I deeply appreciate the work that childcare providers do every day. I know it's not easy.

But to all of our childcare workers statewide: I thank you for all you're doing to support our workforce, to strengthen our economy, and to set our kids on a path to lifelong success.

Our children are our most precious assets and our highest priority. My administration will continue to support high quality care to Maine's children and families for as long as I am Governor.

This is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.