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5 <br />by the families). This compares to a total number of 1025 children served the previous <br />year. The additional state and county funds received last year allowed the agency to <br />serve all children on the agency's waiting list in January of 2007. It then became <br />necessary to begin the waiting list again as all the additional resources had been <br />committed. <br />Currently, 408 children are waiting for DSS subsidy although Child Care Services <br />Association is serving 115 of these children. There are children of working parents who <br />have been waiting for subsidy since February of this year. The confirmation of the new <br />state allocation was xecently received by the agency and staff members will now start <br />serving some of the children on the waiting list. <br />The Department of Social Services has continued to offer the Day Care Sponsorship <br />Program, but has had difficulty securing sponsors, other than child care providers, to use <br />the matching funds allocated by the county. However, the funds were used to sponsor <br />More at Four families last year, and the funds were used to match reallocated funds made <br />available by the state during last fiscal year. <br />Although neither the towns nor the university are contributing funds directly to DSS, the <br />towns have maintained their commitment to Child Care Service Association (CCSA) and <br />the university continues to contribute to CCSA. <br />The Department of Social Services had been working with the Economic Development <br />Commission (EDC) on the recommendations regarding education of employers and <br />development of financial incentives for employers. After a new EDC director is hired, <br />the agencies will again try to work on these issues. <br />DSS has also been reviewing issues related to access to subsidy programs and is <br />continuing to explore ways to improve access including having both public subsidy <br />programs being administered by one agency. <br />Benchmarks for Measurement <br />The Social Services Board has established the following benchmarks for the subsidy <br />program. This data will be used to determine progress and identify the need for <br />additional funding beginning in Fiscal Year 2007-08. <br />1. The average length of time for working families to wait for subsidy is three <br />months with the maximum time that they wait being four months. When the wait <br />times exceed these amounts, the DSS Board will inform the Board of <br />Commissioners of the need for additional resources. <br />2. The amount of state and federal subsidy received by DSS in Fiscal Year 2006- <br />2007 was $4,153,607 and the total subsidy expenditures were $4,303,412. These <br />amounts are the baseline for DSS to determine progress in securing additional <br />funds for subsidy. <br />