Home > News and Events > Press Releases

For Immediate Release February 27, 2009

Contact: Mary Ignatius 415-882-0234 mignatius@rrnetwork.org

Parent Voices Thank Speaker Pelosi

 

 

San Francisco Parents, Children, and Advocates

Meet to Thank Speaker Pelosi

for Urgently Needed Federal Funds to

Keep California Working

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — February 27, 2009 — Low income working parents who rely on publicly funded child care joined together today to pay tribute to the Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who successfully secured new federal investments in early childhood development - $2 billion for child care and $2.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start.  Parents shared their personal stories with Speaker Pelosi telling her that help with paying for child care enables them to seek and maintain stable employment.  As California faces severe budget challenges, these new federal funds bring hope and relief in a time of great anxiety.  To show their gratitude, children and parents from San Francisco’s oldest child development center, the nationally accredited Holy Family Day Home, and from Parent Voices, a grassroots parent advocacy organization, presented Speaker Pelosi with gifts of artwork and thank-you cards.

 

Speaker Pelosi arrived at Holy Family Day Home and toured the recently renovated 100 year old facility, noting that children from the youngest 2 year old “Bumble Bees” to the 4 year old preschool “Wizards” were actively engaged in play and learning activities that will foster their future growth and development.   The new facility also includes initiatives where parents receive job counseling and other family supports which promote their own growth and development.  Following the tour, the Speaker met privately with parents who have children at Holy Family Day Home or are active with Parent Voices to hear firsthand the challenges they face in these uncertain times.   Cyn Bivens, a single mother whose two year old daughter attends the preschool, thanked Speaker Pelosi “for standing up for those of us who need to go to work everyday and who depend upon child care centers like Holy Family Day Home, where we know our kids are safe and getting the basics for a good education and a chance for the opportunities that we didn’t have.” 

 

Lourdes Alarcon, a parent leader with the San Francisco chapter of Parent Voices and mother to 3 year old Xavier and 1 year old Itzel, thanked Speaker Pelosi for understanding the challenges facing low-income families during these tough economic times.  “I have been frustrated and anxious for two years waiting to receive child care services.  Without reliable child care it is so difficult to try to find and maintain a job.  Now I feel like there is hope for families like me and I am grateful that there is an understanding that with child care assistance more families can achieve our dreams of working and making a better life for our children.”

 

“There can be no higher priority for our economy and for our future than to see that the children served by Holy Family get the right start in life with quality child care,” said Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  “Working together with our new President, we will ensure that the children of Holy Family and millions more like them can walk that pathway to opportunity and are prepared for the challenges of the future.”

 

At the press conference, Patty Siegel, Executive Director of the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, described the overwhelming challenges facing California’s working families and child care community right now.  “The State Budget that passed last week will reduce the rates paid to child care providers, require parents to pay higher fees, and eliminate $55 million in child care funding from the 18-month budget.  The $220 million that California will receive from the economic recovery package are a real life saver for parents all over California who want to work but cannot afford the high cost of child care.” 

 

“Currently there are nearly 5,000 children on San Francisco’s Centralized Eligibility List waiting for subsidized child care,” said Donna M. Cahill, Executive Director for Holy Family Day Home.  “We are so thankful that Speaker Pelosi understands that without these subsidies, the cycle of poverty is nearly ensured for the next generation.  Without a high quality early educational child care experience, children often begin elementary school with severe, irrevocable developmental delays.”

About Holy Family Day Home:  Founded by the Sisters of the Holy Family in 1900, Holy Family Day Home provides high-quality affordable early educational childcare for children ages 3 months through 6 years in a stable and nurturing environment, while simultaneously  supporting families to ensure their health, stability and financial independence.  The Day Home transitioned to a 501(c) 3 organization with a lay board and staff in the late 1990s. To date Holy Family Day Home has cared for over 15,000 children and their families. Its Infant/Toddler facility on Minna Street, south of Market cares for 21 children from 3 to 30 months.  Pre-school and transitional kindergartner programs for another 150 children aged 2-6 years takes place at the Dolores Street site in San Francisco’s Mission District.  In addition to its multi-cultural, eclectic curriculum, children enjoy hot meals and snacks daily; free health screenings; beautiful play yard and garden; and foster grandparents in every classroom.    

About CCCR&RN: The California Child Care Resource and Referral Network is the oldest, most well-respected system of child care resource and referral (R&R) agencies in the United States. Over the past twenty-nine years, California’s R&R services have evolved from a grassroots effort helping parents find child care to a well-developed system that supports parents, providers, and local communities in finding, planning for, and providing affordable, quality child care. The Network combines practical knowledge at the local level with extensive experience in working on state and national child care policy. Every year, the Network provides over 10,000 referrals to local R&Rs, coordinates trainings for thousands of parents and child care providers, and produces the most reliable research on child care supply and demand in California. For more information: www.rrnetwork.org

About Parent Voices: Parent Voices is a parent-led, parent-run grassroots organization fighting to make quality child care accessible and affordable to all families.  Parent Voices is a project of the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network, organized into seventeen local chapters and housed in child care resource and referral programs across the state.  Parent Voices combines leadership development, community organizing, and advocacy in our efforts to protect and expand child care funding at the state and federal level.