Agenda - 06-30-1992 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Presentation to Commissioners on June 8, 1992 My name is Kate Sanford. I am the Director of Chapel Hill Cooperative Preschool and on the Board of Day Care Services Association. In my role as a Board member I am the Chairperson of a Day Care Subsidy Committee for the Board. It is our job to evaluate our day care subsidy program and revise new policies as they are needed. The need for day care subsidy continues to plague poor families in our community. Child care costs about $400 a month at my center. This is fairly typical of child care costs in our community. Many low income families, particularly those headed by single women, hardly bring home much more than that each month. These families cannot afford quality child care and may face having to go on welfare without day care assistance. Our scholarship program allows families to pay fees at rates they can afford, based on their income and family size. Our typical family consists of three people, a mother and two children. The mother earns about $12,000 a year. Our typical family, with day care assistance from DCSA, never needs public assistance. The mother works and maintains her economic self - sufficiency because she has child care assistance. Right now Day Care Services Association has encumbered all of its scholarship funds for 1992. We do not expect to be able to fund another child or family needing assistance until 1993. The Department of Social Services is also not funding new families needing assistance. There are very few options we can offer a family who needs child care in order to work. Some day care centers, like Chapel Hill Co -op, provide scholarships and sliding scales. But these are often very limited. The only help that is available is for families receiving AFDC. Unfortunately, we are having to offer this as an option. We have to say to parents, "If you want child care so you can work, go apply and get on AFDC. Then increase your work hours and income because there is a program that will fund your child care" This is not the way our system should be operating. We should be helping parents who are ready and able to help themselves! For many years DCSA has been offering a day care subsidy program for families without asking for county assistance. The program and scholarship funds have grown tremendously as the community has supported this need. However, there have never been funds to provide for the administration of the subsidy program. We are asking for this support now. Thank you.