Are you an essential worker in need of child care assistance? The Orange County Department of Education may be able to help.
OCDE’s Family Support Services team subsidizes child care costs for eligible families using funds allocated through the California Department of Education. Families get to choose their own providers, and OCDE has contracts with day care facilities, center programs, school districts, private homes and other settings throughout the county to make the process pretty seamless.
Eligible job sectors
To qualify for essential worker assistance, your job must be tied to one of these employment sectors without the option for remote work:
- Health Care
- Emergency Services
- Food and Agriculture
- Child Care and/or Education
- Critical Infrastructure
- State or Local Government
- Energy
- Transportation and Logistics
- Communications and/or IT
- Critical Manufacturing
- Hazardous Materials
- Financial Services
- Chemical Industries
- Another field listed in the governor’s Executive Order N-33-20
Income requirements
Eligibility is further determined by income level and family size. A breakdown of the maximum monthly and annual incomes is below.
| Family size | Monthly income | Yearly income |
| 1-2 | $5,889 | $70,665 |
| 3 | $6,511 | $78,135 |
| 4 | $7,441 | $89,297 |
| 5 | $8,632 | $103,584 |
| 6 | $9,823 | $117,872 |
| 7 | $10,046 | $120,550 |
| 8 | $10,269 | $123,230 |
| 9 | $10,492 | $125,909 |
| 10 | $10,716 | $128,587 |
| 11 | $10,939 | $131,266 |
| 12 | $11,162 | $133,946 |
If you meet the above criteria or would like more information, contact Loretta Witherspoon in OCDE’s Family Support Services at 714-708-3871, or email childcareassistance@ocde.us.
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