Florence Crittenton News — November, 2009In this issue: 
“Besides healthcare, childcare is the main problem in the country. Without childcare there is no work.” -- Ana Homonnay Ana HomonnayLike many newcomers, Ana Homonnay arrived in America with little more than hope. With help from Florence Crittenton Services, she’s been able to lay the foundation for a career as a photographer, become financially independent, and send money to help support her mother in Brazil. “I got my first client…and I was able to go back to my career because of FCS in those first two years. I would not have been able to do anything without FCS,” Ana says. The agency “made my life better economically because I could work.” For nearly three decades, Crittenton Childcare has provided licensed, subsidized child care. At its center in the Hope VI low-income housing project in Hayes Valley – and working through a Family Child Care Network of more than 20 home-based providers – FCS serves nearly 100 infants and toddlers every year. Across the Bay, hundreds of volunteers visited scores of nonprofits. At FCS, a half-dozen spent three morning hours each day learning about early childhood education. FCS serves San Francisco's most vulnerable and impoverished communities. Ninety-five percent of our client base is classified as "very low" income. As a whole, these clients' average income is 27 percent lower than other neighborhoods in the city. Consequently, the skyrocketing cost of licensed market-rate child care (more than $1,000 per month) would consume nearly half of the income of our parent-clients. Making matters worse, nearly 4,300 children languish on eligibility wait-lists for subsidized child care in San Francisco, and 80% of subsidy eligible families seeking infant/toddler care and are unable to find it. State funding for subsidized child care is made available on the basis of standardized reimbursement rate which falls significantly short of meeting the full cost of providing care in San Francisco. Despite these pressing economic circumstances, parents know Crittenton Childcare will make sure their children receive age-appropriate learning opportunities. These include trips to the park, arts and crafts, and other activities that promote healthy emotional and intellectual development. Parents can also access a resource library and workshops that promote unity and family cohesiveness. “The caregivers there, the women, they are wonderful,” Ana says. “When you are leaving your kid with someone else, that means a lot. I felt safe leaving Adam and going to work. I trusted them, even though it was hard.” Ana once dreamt of making movies. A film major, she directed and produced feature stories for MTV Brazil, traveling the country, introducing “hidden worlds” and indigenous peoples to young music lovers. When she landed in Berkeley, she learned English, took college courses, waited tables, got married and had a baby. And with reliable child care, she’s also been able to forge a burgeoning career as a professional photographer, specializing in nonprofit marketing materials such as annual reports and brochures. Over the course of two years, she traded childcare service for professional service, essentially serving as agency staff photographer while simultaneously developing her marketing skills and building a client list. “What FCS meant for me, it’s impossible to put into words,” Ana says. “It became my second family.” Lack of Basic Skills Endangers Future EmploymentThe next generation of California workers will have fewer basic skills attainments than the generation before it, even as demand for basic skills education increases, according to a recent report. Even worse, the state’s fiscal woes will almost certainly choke off future funding for basic skills programs. Without adequate basics skills, millions of California’s low-income and non-English-speaking citizens will not be prepared for either vocational training or college course work – the stepping stones to financial self sufficiency and long-term careers. According to the California Budget Project Report, basic skills courses as they exist in California may not be adequately preparing students for further education. “Requirements for academic and vocational courses are not clearly tied to success in basic skills courses,” the report notes. Meanwhile, the state has failed to establish the kind of data-tracking infrastructure that would accurately measure student success and provide a factual basis for identifying and developing needed reforms. The report also notes:
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