United Way of Western Connecticut launched the Cora’s Kids program in January of 2018 to address the severe shortage of quality child care in the City of Danbury. The program offered trainings and incentives for those who wanted to open licensed family child care programs, and was very successful. By January of 2020, the city had 16 newly licensed providers and had created 96 new, licensed child care spots.
Now those providers are facing challenges they couldn’t have imagined when they first got their licenses. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many parents of young children found themselves without jobs. Unemployed parents withdrew their children from the programs, as they no longer need care or simply can’t afford it. Other parents won’t send their children to child care for fear that they will catch the virus and bring it home to elderly relatives or others with health issues.
United Way of Western Connecticut’s Early Child Care Initiative Manager, Elizabeth Quinoñez, reached out to all of the Cora’s Kids providers and found that 75% of them are struggling now, either because children are no longer enrolled, parents don’t want to expose their children, or someone in their own home has lost a job.
One provider said: “Before COVID-19 I had six children attending, and three after school. Right now, none of the kids are attending the daycare. My program is open, I am calling the parents every day. But they decided to disenroll them. Out of the six, three were on Care4Kids subsidies, but that does not cover my business expenses. I don’t know how I am going to pay the rent in the coming months.”
Another said: “Due to COVID-19, I do not have any children in my program. They have all disenrolled. My husband and son lost their jobs, and we have no income coming in. Unfortunately, parents are not enrolling their children right now, due to the current pandemic.”
To assist the Cora’s Kids providers during the pandemic, United Way of Western Connecticut is doing the following:
- Setting up a Conference Call to help providers understand the financial relief that may be available to them.
- Applying for funding through Fairfield County Community Foundation to help them pay some of their business expenses.
- Keeping providers informed about conference calls or remote meetings with the State’s Office of Early Childhood (OEC) to make them aware of benefits available to child care providers and let them know how and when they can advocate for themselves
- Opening a channel of communication with WhatsApp, so they can call and ask about community resources. The providers also convey information about resources to the families they were or are serving.
- Providing benefits through United Way’s Healthy Savings program, so they can get free, fresh produce and other food discounts available to them.
- Coordinating the delivery of donations, including diapers and other paper goods donated by Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
Like many small business owners, child care providers found that the businesses they so worked so hard to open are suddenly closed and are bringing in no income. United Way is supporting them in the best ways we know how, as part of our broader commitment to ensuring quality care for all children across our region.
To find out how you can help the licensed family child care providers in Danbury, contact Elizabeth Quinoñez at 203-297-6738.