The city of South Bend is teaming up with several organizations to fund a new grant program for high-quality early education.

The announcement for the new program took place in downtown South Bend. The city, along with the Family and Children's Center Foundation, will contribute $140,000 for the new grant program.

That money will then be distributed by United Way to local child care providers to help them improve their rankings on the state of Indiana's Paths to Quality ranking system.

"We fear that some of the money made available through the state, through these vouchers, is going unspent," Mayor Pete Buttigieg said. "Because there are not seats in those high-quality programs. So, when we invest those funds, we are a match not only through an organization like the Family and Children's Center deciding to step up and be a part of it, but also we may be unlocking some funds that are already there but the families can't use because we don't have enough of those certified programs."

Home providers, center-based providers and faith-based providers are all eligible to apply for grant funding.