The District of Columbia began implementing innovative child care subsidy policies and practices designed to increase the supply of accessible quality care and facilitate families’ access. These policies and practices 

• increased child care subsidy payments based on a cost-estimation model;
• changed family copayments so no family copayment is more than 7 percent of household income; and
• were administered innovatively by having some large child care centers determine eligibility and copays directly and supporting smaller providers with subsidy administration through government agencies and opportunities to engage in shared services.

DC plans to further revise its Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) regulations and practices, emphasizing increased access to stable, high-quality child care for children from households with low incomes and other priority populations. 

Project Overview: Evaluating DC’s Innovative Subsidy Policies and Practices

This project, titled “An Evaluation of DC’s Innovative Subsidy Policies and Practices,” uses a mixed-methods approach to examine implementation and outcomes of DC’s subsidy policies. Conducted in collaboration with the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), DC’s Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Lead Agency, the project aims to 

• produce policy-relevant evidence for OSSE; the US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HSS) Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation and Office of Child Care; and CCDF administrators; and
• inform other jurisdictions considering changes to subsidy payment rates, copayments, and practices administering subsidies.