BOSTON - Gov. Maura Healey, speaking at the Biden-Harris administration “Making Care Work” event via video call on Wednesday, shared her way of making child care more affordable in Massachusetts, and announced a plan to use $20 million from the federal government to put towards child care. 

“Today, I'm announcing a $20 million plan that will create a workforce training system that provides not only access to skills and jobs there, but also, importantly, free child care, transportation, and social support,” said Healey. 

The plan isn’t a guarantee. The Hampden County workforce board is a finalist in a federal grant program that would give them that $20 million. 

If chosen, this program would then go ahead to benefit Holyoke and Springfield. 

“We have an area out in Western Massachusetts that suffers from among the highest rates of poverty and unemployment in our state. It's also an area we know there's a great opportunity for growth,” said Healey. “One of our clean energy companies is about to, to build out there, but we need to support our workforce. And so we've got a plan that we just built out working with our regional workforce board that takes a new approach to addressing some of these deep inequalities of race and geography.”

State Senator John Velis is hopeful that his community could be bettered by this grant.

“If awarded, this grant will make a life changing difference for so many individuals and families in our Holyoke and Springfield communities by addressing the barriers to employment and connecting individuals to good paying jobs," he said.

The Hampden County workforce group is one of 22 groups nationwide that are finalists. Their final applications are due at the end of the month. Then it’s a waiting game to see who gets the money.