Thanks to DC’s robust early childhood care and education policies, many DC families don’t pay the full cost of child care. The DC Child Care Subsidy Program helps offset child care costs for eligible families—especially those with younger children, those seeking before- or after-school care, and those needing summer care. For families paying the full cost of child care, costs are among the highest in the nation.

Child care subsidies are designed to expand families’ options, giving them access to care that is otherwise unaffordable so they can work, attend school, or pursue job training opportunities. The DC Child Care Subsidy Program complements DC’s universal public prekindergarten program, which enrolls 3- and 4-year-old children during school-day hours for the academic year, irrespective of the family’s income.

This year, family affordability challenges, an uncertain labor market, and a restrictive city budget have mayoral candidates and DC residents alike focused on policies expanding access to affordable child care. The DC Child Care Subsidy Program is among many facing uncertainty in the coming year because of a budget shortfall. The newly introduced subsidy program waitlist (PDF) and discussions of additional policies to constrain costs could limit the availability of and access to affordable care.

Based on our ongoing evaluation of the DC Child Care Subsidy Program, conducted in partnership with the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education, here are three facts the incoming mayor and council should know as they prepare to enter office.

1. The program lowers the cost of care for families

As of December 2025, more than 7,000 children used a child care subsidy to enroll in child development facilities. Though some participating families receive care at no charge, many pay a copayment to offset the cost. Regardless of their payment plan, parents report this program makes care more affordable and expands their access to high-quality care.

Most children receiving a subsidy are infants and toddlers, the age group with the highest child care costs in DC. Still, about one-quarter (28 percent) are preschool age (3–5 years), and another quarter (23 percent) are school age (5 years and older). In addition, families are seeking subsidies at all times of the year, but are accessing subsidies more often during the summer when school is out and at the beginning of the school year as families figure out before- and after-school care.

2. The program also benefits child care providers

The DC Child Care Subsidy Program also supports the financial health and stability of participating child care businesses, especially those serving communities where families cannot afford child care costs.

Child care providers operate on very thin profit margins, relying heavily on family tuition for revenue. Because operating costs, such as building rent and staff salaries, are fixed, vacancies can result in large financial losses. Some providers have shared with us that in the past when they were not able to fill slots after children left, they had to reduce hours, close down classrooms, let staff go, and make other operational changes. In turn, this can be disruptive to families needing to find alternative care arrangements and costly for employers that lose productivity.

The DC Child Care Subsidy Program helps participating providers fill seats with families who otherwise face prohibitively high costs of care. In exchange, providers are reimbursed monthly for the costs of caring for children served through the subsidy program.

Across DC, roughly three in five child care businesses participate in the subsidy program. To increase families’ access to high-quality child care programs that are equipped to support children’s development, providers that accept families’ child care subsidies are required to participate in Capital Quality, the District’s current approach to measuring and improving child care quality.

Payments from the child care subsidy program help providers maintain full enrollment, with two-thirds of providers licensed in DC reporting in 2025 that child care subsidies are a reliable source of funding. Providers in Wards 7 and 8—where family incomes are lowest in DC and stand to benefit the most from child care assistance—are the most likely to participate in the program and enroll more children through it. Subsidy program participation is also required of providers that serve children through DC’s universal public prekindergarten, to support families’ ability to secure wraparound care outside of school hours.

3. Sustaining and building upon the program’s successes requires additional policy momentum and investment

Efforts to help families access affordable care did not happen overnight. Since 2018, DC has implemented multiple policies and practices designed to make it easier for families to apply for assistance and for providers to participate in the program and serve families in need of affordable care. These changes include:

• revising the policy manual to make it easier for families, providers, community members, and others to understand program requirements;
• creating an online application to facilitate families’ ability to apply to the subsidy program;
• establishing a cost-estimation model so participating child care providers are reimbursed the true cost of providing care to approved families, rather than the costs families can afford;
• paying providers based on children’s enrollment, rather than attendance, to support more predictable revenue and stabilize providers’ business operations; and
• expanding initial eligibility requirements—from 250 percent to 300 percent of the federal poverty level—to extend child care assistance to more DC families.

These policies also accompany large investments in other early childhood initiatives to ensure children receive high-quality learning environments and that families have access to stable care, including fostering providers’ quality improvement, revising educator credential requirements and training, and making investments in early educator pay.

But recent changes, most notably the recently implemented subsidy program waitlist, could threaten this progress. The waitlist was created to monitor program costs but could lead to an enrollment freeze whenever subsidy participation numbers exceed target numbers. Early feedback from DC leaders shows some providers worry they will be unable to fill vacancies after children leave, potentially leaving slots empty and reducing revenue. States such as New Mexico and cities such as Dallas have dedicated funding to support initiatives like subsidy programs that help stabilize providers’ financial situations.

Continued momentum will help build on the program’s success 

As DC moves into its next budget and approaches upcoming policy decisions, newly elected leaders have an opportunity to fund the subsidy program and protect innovations that support families year-round to sustain a diverse, high-quality supply of child care across all eight wards. Closely monitoring the implementation of new policies to the Child Care Subsidy Program and assessing provider and family experiences will also help protect families and providers alike.