Child care enables parents and caregivers to participate in the workforce, attend school and training programs, and take care of other responsibilities while their children are cared for in safe and stable early education programs. Despite its value, child care has historically been underfunded and inaccessible for the majority of those who need it. Because of this, the funding that states receive through the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF), the main federal funding source to support families with low incomes in accessing child care, is a vital support for many across the country. The impact of COVID-19 on the child care sector was, and continues to be, immense. The challenges families and the child care workforce faced in the sector were not new, but the pandemic brought the existing inequities to the forefront for many. It showed that impacts on the sector affect our whole economy. For decades, most families, particularly those of color and those with low incomes, have faced barriers to accessing quality care that met their diverse needs while the workforce has been unsupported in providing financially for their own families. However, the harmful impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic forced policymakers, businesses, and the public to finally recognize the sector's vital role in the economic security of families. With this recognition came unprecedented investment in the child care sector through three rounds of COVID-19 relief funding. The data in this brief represents the fiscal year (FY) 2021, which started in October 2020 and ended in September 2021. Because of the timing of the relief funding investments and because the resources could be spent across multiple years, the 2021 data only begin to reflect the spending of these important resources. As more recent data are released, we will have a fuller picture of what this historic funding did for the sector in a time of crisis and what lessons can be learned for future investment, as these largely positive impacts cannot be sustained without large-scale, permanent investment in child care.