Agenda - 03-21-2006-7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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i~ Child care subsidy waiting lists aze a critical issue for Orange County, They affect both our economy and our ability to ready children for school. Because high quality child care in Orange County costs about $1,000 per month, many ]ow••income working pazents simply cannot afford to pay for it on their own. These families face the choice of not working or placing their children in low quality or potentially unsafe child care arrangements. These decisions have consequences for the children, the families and our community as a whole. (See Attachmern 9) One group of workers that cannot afford the cost of child caze on their own is the child Gaze workers themselves, Not having child care subsidy funds available affects their ability to support other workers in the community. As a result, the Orange County Child Care Coalition went before the DSS Boazd and the Board of County Commissioners in Agril of 2004 to secure additional child care subsidy funds that would specifically support childcare teachers and public school employees. In response to this increased awazeness, the Board of Coumy Commissioners appropriated $100,000 from the social safety net and designated it for child caze subsidy. The DSS Board Chair created the Day Care Task Force to examine the issue further and make recommendations for action. DISCIISSION The Day Caze Task Force reviewed materials and data from the County DSS Day Caze t7nit, the Partnership for Young Children, the Orange County Child Caze Coalition, the Child Caze Services Association and the Orange Courity Economic Development Office as part ofthe process of developing recommendations, Some ofthese materials have been included as attachme~s to this report. The data reveal that on average nearly 600 children of employed parents receive subsidies and another 500 aze eligible and waiting for subsidies in Orange Courrty. Furthermore, over 200 employers in Orange County have employees who receive or aze waiting for child caze subsidy, The significant economic benefit of child care subsidies on the business community can be found in Attachment 9. Since the Task Force formation was stimulated by a request from childcare providers for relief in the form of subsidies for their teachers, these needs, as well as the needs of other school and government based employees were of particular concern to the Task Force members. Recent information shows that the average pay of child caze teachers in Orange County is approximately $10..80 per hour.4 Families that rely solely on the wages of a child care teacher would be eligible for child care subsidies. Low wages and lack of comprehensive benefits have also resulted in significant turnover in the child care field,. Additional information on this issue can be found in Attachment 10. Other information gathered by the task force showed that all working pazents with low wages were struggling to meet their child care needs, Employers with 20-75 employees who have child care subsidies include I1NC, i1NC Hospitals, Chapel Hill/Cazrboro City Schools and Wal-Mart. Some paze~rts in low wage service and retail jobs also do not have benefits. Improving do Rclmtian ojChBd Can IY/v~kns in Omnge County, Cold Care Services Association