Small Stride Academy has been caring for children in the Beverly neighborhood for about 40 years, but the day care center and preschool isn’t sure how it will keep its doors open if subsidies that help families afford child care in Illinois are cut. More than half of the day care’s children benefit from subsidies from the Child Care Assistance Program, said center administrator Lisa Griffin. That program is partly funded by federal dollars that President Donald Trump’s administration said Tuesday night it plans to withhold from Illinois and four other states with Democratic governors over concerns about fraud and misuse of the money. “It is going to be a problem,” Griffin said of the potential loss of dollars. “Families depend on us. Then you’re expecting this to trickle down to the parents’ employment. How could they not be affected if we weren’t open?” Child care professionals, parents and local elected leaders expressed horror Wednesday after the federal government announced that it would freeze about $10 billion in funding for child care and family assistance programs in Illinois, California, Colorado, Minnesota and New York
