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Washington County bilingual childcare center set to expand, thanks to new federal funding

Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on 'Policy Response to Russian Interference in the 2016 U.S. Elections' on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, June 20, 2018, in Washington.
Andrew Harnik
/
AP
Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, announced the new federal funding on Monday.

A bilingual childcare center in Washington County is set to expand, thanks in part to $831,000 in federal funding announced Monday.

Rayitos de Sol - Spanish for "little sunbeams" - is a bilingual childcare center in Milbridge. It's run by Mano en Mano, an organization that supports Downeast farmworker communities.

The funding will help pay for the construction of a new building, allowing the center to increase its capacity to 64 students, more than doubling its current capacity.

The funding boost comes from a congressional appropriations package, and was announced Monday by U.S. Sen. Angus King's office.

In a statement, King said the planned expansion is a boon to the region's workforce, because affordable childcare is "one of the most pressing needs for working families."