The Impact of COVID-19 on The Use of Child Care Works Subsidy in Philadelphia

Child Care Works (CCW) is a critical program for low income working families. The program provides financial subsidies to low income families to pay for child care while parents are working or studying. This brief describes CCW usage across the city and the impact of COVID-19 on program participation. We find that the city saw a substantial decline in CCW participation after the onset of the pandemic. Declining participation can be attributed to both more children leaving the program and fewer new children entering. Our analysis shows that the number of child care programs participating in CCW declined at a faster rate after the onset of the pandemic.