Employees at licensed childcare facilities in Pennsylvania will receive a one-time grant of $ 600 to reward them for providing valuable service through the pandemic, Governor Tom Wolf’s administration said Wednesday.

Wolf’s administration said the money came from a federal government program that subsidizes childcare costs and leftover funds originally earmarked for childcare workers in coronavirus-assisted legislation approved by Congress last spring.

About $ 20 million is available and could provide grants to up to 33,000 childcare workers, the administration said.

Eligible employees must be employed by an approved childcare worker on January 1, have a gross salary of no more than $ 70,000, and work at the childcare facility for at least 20 hours per week.

It will replace this year’s grants from a program designed to increase pay for highly qualified early childhood education teachers. This program previously called for payments of about $ 1,000 to $ 3,000 to about 9,000 childcare workers, the administration said.

The administration announced that the grants will be made available through the childcare facilities. Applications must be submitted to local early learning resource centers and issued based on availability.

Pennsylvania distributed $ 220 million in government coronavirus aid to pandemic-hit childcare facilities last year and expects to receive an additional $ 10 billion in the emergency childcare aid approved by Congress last month.

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