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Regarding Lookout’s story on this year’s CORE funding recommendations, it’s prudent to report that the child care sector was completely abandoned.
Decades-long partnerships with the city and county previously allowed multiple local nonprofit child care centers to provide high-quality child care for low-income families. The process was always competitive – including a lengthy grant proposal, quarterly reports and regular visits by elected officials. Each year, we consistently reported successfully meeting the objectives of our grants: to serve a diverse population of low-income Santa Cruz families.
The new CORE process has become so onerous that most nonprofits, especially small ones who can’t afford to employ grant writers, no longer even apply. This funding cycle, only two child care centers applied – the Santa Cruz Toddler Care Center and Walnut Avenue Family & Women’s Center. Neither was recommended for funding.
There are countless studies reflecting the dire need for affordable child care in our county and beyond. Our own Santa Cruz County datashare website indicates that 64% of children from working families don’t have licensed child care slots available, and that after housing, parents report child care as being their highest expense. According to the Santa Cruz County Childhood Advisory Council’s 2023 needs assessment, there is currently a shortage of 2,971 infant/toddler spaces with only 26% of demand currently being met.
Local government funding to make child care affordable is essential. The amount of money it takes to provide high-quality child care is simply more than most families can afford to pay.
The results of these cuts will seriously compromise our ability to provide high-quality child care to low-income families. Inevitably, these families will lose their child care, to be replaced by higher-income families who can afford to pay full price. We do not agree with the implications that only the very wealthy deserve access to quality child care.
High-quality child care has an undeniably monumental impact on not only the well-being of young children and their families, but the economic stability of a community. Parents simply can’t work without child care, and economies simply can’t function without working parents.
Nora Caruso and Heather Burquez, executive directors, Santa Cruz Toddler Care Center
Julie P. Macecevic, executive director, Walnut Avenue Family & Women’s Center