Child Care Resources - https://www.childcare.org/ - Tacoma phone number 253-272-8000 - Katie Kaiser, Homeless Child Care Program Manager - kaiser@childcare.org
- Hava Tursky, Homeless Project Specialist - tursky@childcare.org
- Non-profit serving King and Pierce Counties
- Mission – “Child Care Resources improves all children’s access to high quality early learning experiences by engaging with families, caregivers, and communities. Embedded in Child Care Resources’ daily work is identifying and addressing racism so that all children thrive in their early learning environments.”
- Introducing our new outreach worker – Hava
- We offer a number of different services
- Work with Child Care Providers to increase the quality of their services – to improve their rating on the State system. A child care provider needs to be rated at a certain level to get access to State subsidized funding
- Statewide family call center – any family can call – to get a list of licensed child care providers near where they are. Also help with what to look for – how to find complaints against childcare providers – help folks know how to assess available options (I’d pick the location with the best snacks, but I suspect there may be other aspects to consider… – ed.)
- Homeless childcare subsidy program – new in Pierce County. We have a resources to pay for child care subsidies for families experiencing homelessness. We use the McKinney-Vento definition (essentially ”individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence” – more specifics at http://www.k12.wa.us/HomelessEd/ -ed.) . We can also support previously homeless families for up to 6 months in permanent housing. Many child care costs can reach and exceed the cost of housing – this resource is important for families (to put it lightly. –ed)
- When families call us, we will:
- Meet with them to assess needs, values, wants, who they want to take care of their child.
- Assess if eligible for state subsidy
- Provide diapers, wipes, and bus tickets (I think this is the moment in the presentation when I fell in love with this organization. –ed.)
- If families need immediate child care, can support them with flexible child care support dollars
- For families experiencing homelessness, there is a “Homeless grace period” on the working connections child care program work requirements.
- Working Connections Child Care provides child care for families with low income (full details at https://www.dcyf.wa.gov/services/earlylearning-childcare/getting-help/wccc –ed.). Parents have to be working, but there is a 120 day grace period for homeless families - if a family is ineligible for working connects because one or both parents aren’t working, but can verity homelessness and under income, they get 120 days of full-time full day child care. This a critical resources for families experiencing homelessness. Child must be documented and the household must be under the income threshold (I really think there should be a third “h” in threshold – as in threshhold – which seems more like how we pronounce it. But the word has no clear provenance, so unfortunately we have no one to properly blame for what I consider some rather suspect spelling. –ed). Households must living Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, Kent or any part of Pierce County.
- We are working on advocacy to expand this benefit from 4 months to a full year. Our organization has been supporting families to navigate this new grace period, and 4 months isn’t enough time to stabilize in housing and get work. The money is in both the Governor’s and the Legislature’s budgets, and we are hoping it gets passed.
- Don – do you have a list of organizations you work with? Katie – we work with anyone. We’ll run a list of possible, nearby child care providers for a family – we keep a list of who is licensed and in good standing – we typically run the list in real time so the families know who are actually available. Don – do the child care providers have a relationship with you? Katie – The family simply gets a voucher from us authorizing child care, and the family takes that voucher to the authorized child care provider they select. That voucher gets back to us, and once we verify they are actually using the child care we then pay the child care provider.
- 253-272-8000 - Tacoma phone number
- We also have private subsidy dollars for specific regions – we have funding in Pierce County that will go to families experiencing homelessness – these dollars are very flexible. When we have families eligible for working connections but have a $700 monthly copay – we can help with that – usually. Can also help families who are over income for Working Connections Child Care. A monthly salary of $2,700 doesn’t cover child care and rent for an apartment.
- Carolyn – You’re with the County? Katie – no, we are a private nonprofit. We have funding from the Gary E Milgard Foundation ( http://garymilgardfamilyfoundation.org/ ), The Sequoia Foundation (http://www.sequoiafound.org/ ), the Bamford Foundation (http://www.bamfordfoundation.org/ ). (and one other she mentioned that I didn’t catch – sorry – ed.).
- Can help with child care for households with children aged 0-13, or children with special needs.
- Question - Do afterschool program fall into that? Katie – yes, if the program is associated with a school or is licensed. Questions – like the YMCA programs? Katie – yes, programs that are licensed or license exempt.
- Jeannette – if a child is over 13, what is the daily rate? Katie – that is a case by case basis. Generally we mirror DSHS eligibility
- Theresa – do you go to the mother and baby unit at Purdy (I’m sure Theresa meant the Residential Parenting Program at the Washington Corrections Center for Women – a great video about the program is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWmfrpd-ohs –ed.) – Katie - we don’t, but would consider that.
- Theresa - isn’t it great that they advocated for more resources – they didn’t just do their jobs serving families. Katie - We are new to Pierce County – it has now been about 5 years - and our homeless subsidy program just took off with some amazing private funding. If you have any opportunities to spread the word, please do so.
- Hava Tursky, Homeless Childcare Subsidy Program - tursky@childcare.org
- I’m from Pierce County and am new to this program
- I am the point person for referrals
- I’ll be working with McKinney Vento liaisons
- I want to put a pitch out for informal informational meetings – I’ve been meeting with many other organizations and would be happy to meet with yours (Oh, I’ll be connecting with you to come present to our case managers – you don’t have to ask me twice –ed.)
- Let me know if you want me to come out for 30 minutes or an hour.
- We have flyers in English and Spanish (Tenemos folletos en ingles y español. See – I can be bilingual too – if given enough time and unlimited access to a Spanish-English dictionary, google translate and an indulgent native speaker who wants a good laugh. –ed)
- Maureen – have you considered reaching out to employers so that employers and Human Resource people know that this is an available resource to their employees. Katie – in King County, we do a lot with Worksource (http://www.worksourceskc.org/ )and advertise our services with folks connecting people with employment. I’m not sure we’ve reached out to employers, though. Maureen – I hadn’t thought about this till an employer reached out on Facebook for resources for their staff. Do you have some thoughts on how to do that? James – we do have a workforce committee we need to connect you to (hey Sherri and Kelly, I hope you’re reading the minutes, ‘cause James means you. –ed) Katie - We are very interested in ways to reach out to all these folks. I’m happy to pursue any suggestions.
- James – connecting with Hire253 would be a great place to connect to folks experiencing homelessness and looking to get working again. (OK, I just sent an e-mail connect Sherri and Kelly to Katie and Hava, so let’s just go ahead and check off this task as complete. –ed.)
- James - Project Homeless connect - June 14th at the Puyallup Nazarene Church (https://associatedministries.org/supportive-services/phcvolunteer/ ) –might be a good place to connect folks who need your child care resources.
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