Gov. Evers Wraps Up Statewide Child Care Tour Highlighting $8.7 Million in First Round of Child Care Bridge Payments to Over 3,000 Providers Statewide

“Supporting Wisconsin’s child care industry is the first step in ensuring a long and stable future for all of Wisconsin’s kids, families, and communities, and with the Child Care Bridge Payments Program, there is a guaranteed route of financial support for child care facilities across the state,” said Gov. Evers. “Thanks to the quick work of our partners at DCF, we were able to get these critical funds out the door so that Wisconsin’s child care providers didn’t experience any gap in payments due to the winding down of the Child Care Counts Program. While these new payments help connect the dots for Wisconsin families by lowering out-of-pocket costs and ensuring safe and reliable child care, they are not an end-all, be-all solution, which is why we must continue our efforts in finding common ground on means to address the challenges this industry faces in the long term.”

The Child Care Bridge Payments Program, which will provide $110 million in monthly direct payments to Wisconsin child care providers through June 2026, was made possible through the more than $360 million investment that Gov. Evers fought for and secured in the 2025-27 bipartisan state budget to help stabilize Wisconsin’s child care industry and lower the cost of child care for working families. Due to the quick work of Gov. Evers and the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF), there will be no gaps in direct funding for child care providers caused by the winding down of the Child Care Counts Program. Under the new Child Care Bridge Payments Program, the first round of direct payments is 87 percent of what providers were receiving under the last round of payments from the Child Care Counts Program. The next application window will open Aug. 23, 2025, and will close on Aug. 31, 2025, with additional opportunities to apply each month through June 2026. Wisconsin child care providers can find more information on how to apply on DCF’s website here.

The Child Care Bridge Payments Program is similar to the successful Child Care Counts Program, which was launched by Gov. Evers and the Evers Administration in 2020 and helped more than 5,700 child care providers keep their doors open, ensured the employment of more than 75,000 child care professionals, and allowed providers to continue care for more than 430,000 kids. The Child Care Bridge Payments Program will provide the financial stability providers need to stay open, recruit and retain qualified staff, and continue providing high-quality care for Wisconsin’s kids.

On Mon., Aug. 18, Gov. Evers, together with DCF Secretary Jeff Pertl, visited the Mariposa Learning Center in Fitchburg to tour the facility and meet with staff and students to hear about their dual language program. During the visit, Gov. Evers discussed the over $360 million investment in child care that he fought to secure in the 2025-27 Biennial Budget, including delivering on his promise to secure direct payments for child care providers with $110 million for the Child Care Bridge Payments Program to bridge the gap created by the wind-down of Child Care Counts. Mariposa Learning Center received over $1.1 million in Child Care Counts grants, and through the first round of Child Care Bridge Payments, the center received $13,678. Photos of the visit are available here, here, and here.

On Tues., Aug.19, Gov. Evers, along with DCF Secretary Pertl, visited Newborn 2 School Education (N2SE) in Superior, where he met owners Amy and Jeff Benson, who led him on a tour of the facility. During the visit, the governor and secretary visited several classrooms, ranging from infants to 4k students, and spoke with teachers about their work in the child care industry. Additionally, the governor highlighted the first of direct payments awarded to providers through the Child Care Bridge Payments Program. N2SE’s first payment totaled $13,734 across its two Superior locations. Photos of the visit are available here and here.

On Wed., Aug. 20, Gov. Evers and DCF Secretary Pertl visited Tikes and Tots Family Child Care, an in-home child care provider in Shiocton. During the visit, the governor and secretary toured the home facility and discussed the importance of ensuring access to affordable child care in rural Wisconsin. Additionally, the governor and secretary highlighted $650 they received in the first round of Child Care Bridge Payments, as well as heard about how, thanks to the $81,000 in Child Care Counts grants Tikes and Tots Family Child Care received, they were able to keep child care costs low. Additionally, the 2025-27 budget signed by Gov. Evers will help expand access to child care for working families by allowing for ‘large family care centers’ that can serve up to 12 kids. Photos of the visit are available here and here.

Gov. Evers and DCF Secretary Pertl then visited the YMCA Youth Development Center in Rhinelander. During the visit, the governor and secretary went on a tour of the facility, where they spoke with teachers and administrators, and participated in a Q&A with preschoolers during lunch. The governor and secretary also heard about the Youth Development Center’s work to implement over $700,000 in Child Care Counts grants, and how they plan to use the over $5,700 they received in the first round of Child Care Bridge Payments. Photos of the visit are available here and here.

To wrap up the day, Gov. Evers and DCF Secretary Pertl visited Coulee Children’s Center in La Crosse, where they toured classrooms, met with teachers, participated in games with the students, and saw the center’s garden, which helps provide food for the students. During the visit, the governor and secretary heard about how Coulee Children’s Center used over $760,000 in Child Care Counts grants to expand access to child care, and highlighted the first of direct payments awarded to providers through the Child Care Bridge Payments Program, for which the Coulee Children’s Center received over $7,200. Photos of the visit are available here and here.

On Thurs., Aug. 21, Gov. Evers and DCF Assistant Secretary Jessica Justman visited the Janesville Community Day Care Center. During the visit, the governor and assistant secretary toured the facility and heard about how the Janesville Community Day Care Center utilized over $689,000 in Child Care Counts grants, and how they plan to use the over $7,000 they received in the first round of Child Care Bridge Payments. Photos of the visit are available here and here.

Following this, Gov. Evers and Assistant Secretary Justman visited Growing Tree Child Development Center in Racine. During the visit, the governor and assistant secretary toured the facility and heard about Growing Tree Child Development Center’s work to implement over $192,000 in Child Care Counts grants, and how they plan to use the nearly $5,600 they received in the first round of Child Care Bridge Payments. Photos of the visit are available here and here.

Lastly, to close out the governor’s week-long statewide child care tour, on Fri., Aug. 22, Gov. Evers and DCF Deputy Secretary Nadya Perez-Reyes traveled to Ebenezer Child Care Center in Oak Creek. During the visit, the governor and deputy secretary toured the facility, where they spoke with teachers and staff members about the importance of child care, participated in story time with children, and saw the center’s outdoor facilities and garden. Additionally, the governor and secretary heard about Ebenezer Child Care Center’s work to implement over $4 million in Child Care Counts grants across their seven locations between March 2020 and June 2025, for which their Oak Creek location received over $1.12 million. They also discussed how Ebenezer Child Care Center plans to use the over $51,000 the child care center received across its seven locations in the first round of Child Care Bridge Payments. Photos of the visit are available here and here.

Wisconsinites can learn more about how providers are being helped in their area by visiting the DCF website here.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON GOV. EVERS’ EFFORTS TO STABILIZE WISCONSIN’S CHILD CARE INDUSTRY AND LOWER CHILD CARE COSTS FOR WORKING FAMILIES

Gov. Evers declared 2025 the Year of the Kid in Wisconsin and has made investing in the state’s child care industry to help fill available child care slots, cut child care wait lists, and lower the cost of care for working families a top priority of his administration and of this budget. All in all, over $360 million was secured by Gov. Evers in the final 2025-27 Biennial Budget. In addition to the $110 million in direct payments to child care providers, the over $360 million in child care investments includes:

Additionally, new changes in the 2025-27 Biennial Budget will help expand access to child care for working families by allowing for ‘large family care centers’ that can serve up to 12 kids and standardize the minimum age for assistant child care teachers to 16 years of age while retaining all requirements for assistant teachers.

Gov. Evers also exercised his broad, constitutional veto authority to partially veto aspects of the budget that were outside of the bipartisan budget negotiations. More information about the bipartisan budget signed by Gov. Evers is available here.