U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to visit a Worcester child care center that serves “highly at-risk children” Thursday and to hold a press conference with U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern to promote proposed investments in child care, universal pre-K and the extension of an expanded child tax credit.

Pelosi and McGovern, who chairs the U.S. House Rules Committee, are scheduled to stop by the Rainbow Child Development Center at 9 a.m. Thursday to “learn about the center’s innovative work and meet with families whose children are currently enrolled in the center’s programs.”

An outdoor press conference will follow at 9:30 a.m., McGovern’s office said. The Rainbow Child Development Center, located on Edwards Street near UMass Memorial Medical Center, serves about 250 kids ranging in age from 6 weeks to 13 years through three programs — family child care, preschool and extended learning for school-aged kids, McGovern’s office said.

Pelosi’s visit to Worcester comes while Democrats in Washington, D.C., are working to advance parts of President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better Plan,” which includes a proposal to guarantee access to quality, affordable child care for low- and middle-income families and offer universal free preschool to all three- and four-year-old children.

(Copyright (c) 2024 State House News Service.

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