Congregations Caring for Children

Project History and Purpose

Project History and Purpose

Project History and Purpose

Project History and Purpose

Project History and Purpose

This guide is offered to people of faith who share a vision of family access to a

safe, nurturing place where all children can learn and grow.

In 1999, the California Council of Churches and Catholic Charities of California

embarked on a three year project to increase quality child care services in com 

munities where the need is especially great for low income families.  Because

congregations in California house at least one out of every five licensed child care

centers, the project was designed to work through the faith community by build 

ing on this strong commitment to the care and early childhood development of

children. This effort is being made possible through generous funding from the

Lucile and David Packard Foundation and The California Endowment.

There is an extreme shortage of pre school spaces and qualified teachers in Cali 

fornia.  The California Budget Project has estimated that more than 280,000

children are on waiting lists for subsidized care.  That number continues to grow

as more parents move from welfare to work.

According to the 1999 California Child Care Portfolio, licensed child care meets less

than one fourth of the estimated need for care for children from birth to 13 years

old. This leaves working parents with little choice but to turn to informal, license 

exempt care, where quality varies.   In this same report, it is estimated that 51

percent of our children under the age of six (about 1.7 million children) live in

homes where both parents, or a single head of household, are employed.

Throughout this project, congregations in six counties in California are being

offered support and resources for any child care and development service they

envision providing. The counties chosen for this project are Fresno, Los Angeles,

Monterey, San Bernardino, San Joaquin and Santa Clara.  However, any congre 

gation in California may request assistance in exploring possible program devel 

opment options by contacting the Project Coordinator at the Council of Churches

office in Sacramento.

The purpose of this guide is to provide information and resources to assist con 

gregations in understanding the pressing issues of child care in California.  It also

offers a variety of ways to increase quality child care services locally.  An assess 

ment tool is included to help identify community needs and congregational

assets, along with a step by step list and related resources for each type of child

care service a congregation might choose to support.  The notebook format al 

lows adequate space to insert additional local child care information as it is

gathered.

Your feedback on the usefulness of this guide, as well as suggestions for other

resources to be included, would be appreciated.  Send your comments to Virginia

Greenwald, Statewide Project Coordinator for Child Care, 2700 L Street, Sacra 

mento  CA  95816, Phone:  916 442 5447, Fax: 916 442 3036, E mail:

virginia@calchurches.org

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