Governor Pedro Rafael Pierluisi Urrutia announced Monday that employees of ACUDEN-licensed care centers and homes will receive bonuses of up to $4,000, in addition to incentives of up to $400 for the medical plan and $200 for transportation expenses.
“We have distributed numerous aids to our public servants, who throughout the pandemic have continued to work and provide excellent services to the children of Puerto Rico. We want to retain and grow the workforce of ACUDEN-licensed care centers and homes, so we will continue to identify available resources and seek flexibility in disbursing federal funds to ensure that money goes directly to them. that provide these essential services to our sons and daughters. My government is committed to providing economic relief to these workers and encouraging their commitment to Puerto Rico,” the governor said in a written statement.
He explained together with the secretary of the Department of Family (DF), Carmen Ana González Magaz and the administrator of the Administration for the Care and Comprehensive Development of Children (ACUDEN), Roberto Carlos Pagán, that this is given as part of the Work Assistance Program ( PAL) whose economic impact is $20 million from the American Rescue Plan’s (ARPA) Child Care Stabilization Fund and will benefit more than 2,000 employees.
The first executive explained that this Program aims to provide assistance to childcare providers, mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and stabilize the operation of these centers.
For her part, the DF president said that “we continue to create strategies that promote productivity and are offering more resources to our allied professionals; teachers, tutors, and childcare center components who lay the foundations of education so that our boys and girls can have a positive impact on their all-round growth and development.”
The three PAL categories are: retention bonus, medical plan incentives, and transportation expenses. The retention bonus will be $1,000 quarterly for a total of $4,000 for full-time employees, while for part-time employees it will be $500 quarterly for a total of $2,000. In terms of medical plan incentives, they will be given a benefit of up to $400 which includes family coverage for dependents. Similarly, employees will receive up to a maximum of $200 per month for transportation expenses for gas, taxi service, public transportation, parking or tolls.
“We are looking to restore the child care system and ensure continuity of services. We recognize the need to encourage the retention of thousands of workers in our centers and we will continue to do justice to their wages”, said the administrator, who stressed that the disbursement of funds will be done through service providers and they have until August 31, 2022 to submit the application.
Service providers will be able to download the application through
See also
acudenpecc.familia.pr.gov. After completing the application, they should send it by email with the required documents to the address below [email protected].
Any person or provider who needs more information or assistance can call 787-589-4132 and for the hearing impaired at 787-585-1193. The call center is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The “ACUDEN Te Asiste” platform will also be available for any questions or queries that arise during the application process.
