Erica Crawley has served as a county commissioner in Franklin County, OH, since 2021, and is a former member of the Ohio House of Representatives. During her tenure, Commissioner Crawley championed the creation of a child care support team that recommended ways Franklin County could invest its federal COVID-relief funds to support kids. This work led Franklin County to allocate $22.5 million of its American Rescue Plan funding to initiatives to support early childhood providers and families with young children. That represents nearly 9% of the county’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. Specifically, the federal relief funds pay for early learning scholarships for families, incentive payments for licensed child care centers and home-based providers, and rental support for child care workers.

We spoke with Commissioner Crawley about her work to support children, families, and child care providers in Franklin County.