Child Care and the Overwhelmed Parent

Leaders in North Carolina’s Transylvania County are investing in home-based childcare by creating a network of caregivers and providing them with financial and technical assistance. The program gives parents affordable options in a rural community where it can be hard to find openings at childcare facilities.

A latchkey program staffed by licensed professionals provides before- and after-school programs for elementary students if their parents cannot make the scheduled times to drop them off or pick them up from school.

Project PLAY, the third of Arkansas’ three-tiered mental health consultation system, has reduced high expulsion and suspension rates for children in child care settings. The program provides consultants who go into classrooms for several months of weekly visits to observe children and then work with staff and parents to address behavioral and mental health issues. The consultations can lead to earlier diagnoses of sensory disorders and increase the confidence and empowerment of child care providers. Lower expulsion rates have a long-term impact on children’s social, emotional, and educational development.

Libraries around West Palm Beach, Florida, have collaborated to offer resources to children who need to work on technology-dependant homework after school, but who don't have access to the Internet or a computer at home. The libraries offer free group-style tutoring with adult supervision and assistance, allowing kids to ask questions and get help with difficult assignments.

Unique among community colleges in California, Los Angeles Valley College provides childcare and other services for parents working towards their degrees while also raising a child.

In the past few years, an influx of oil field workers to Jal, New Mexico has put pressure on the town's child-care offerings. Several teachers are pioneering a creative solution. By using funding from several sources, Bright Beginnings Child Development Center has colocated in the local elementary school, cutting down on travel time for working parents and creating benefits across programs.

In the early 2000s, Minnesota’s low income families struggled to have access to mental health care for their children. Now Minnesota therapists meet at schools rather than at a clinic and also train teachers to help students with mental health challenges. Parents measure the success based upon improved test scores, classroom environment, and fewer school suspensions.

A program in eastern North Carolina takes a proven, two-generation approach to lift struggling families out of dire circumstances.

The life-saving vitamin folic acid is added to flour in the United States, but Hispanics tend to eat little flour. Adding folic acid to corn flour would reduce birth defects in Hispanic women in the U.S.

The Twilight Education Club is a non-profit working to break down the barriers – transportation, child care and cost – that typically prevent the economically disadvantaged from accessing social services such as language classes. While the Twilight program is specifically geared toward the needs of the parents - getting better jobs and securing greater stability - the long-term focus remains on creating future opportunities for their children.