Mahaelia Lango reads to children ages 3 and 4 at Childcare Network No. 206 in Forest Park, in Clayton County. The center provides early learning and care for young children.
According to data from the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, 53% of Georgia households with children under six face a staggering childcare affordability burden, Quality Care for children is helping to change that.
A $2 million grant announced Sept. 23 by Quality Care for Children will help at least 130 children in Atlanta and Clayton County access a year of child care through scholarships funded by United Way of Greater Atlanta and the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation.
The funding will be split between the PAACT (Promise All Atlanta Children Thrive) Scholarship for Atlanta, powered by BOOST, and a newly created BOOST Economic Mobility Scholarship in Clayton County.
Without the scholarship, single mother Mia McKinney would have faced the difficult reality of not being able to search for employment due to lack of childcare for her son.
“I think it changed the trajectory of where I thought I was going to have to go,” McKinney said.
