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Sara Maeda, left, and James Migdal, spend the morning at Patty McCaul's daycare in Sunnyvale, creating artistic masterpieces with paintbrushes and hands. McCaul applied for grant money to help fix up her renovated garage/playroom, which is too cold for the children to play in during the winter.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Careful Spending
By Kevin Fayle and Daniel Hindin
The Children and Families First Commission (CFFC) recently allocated $1.8 million to Santa Clara County childcare providers. Seventeen providers from Sunnyvale--more than any other city in Santa Clara County--received grants to improve the quality of their services. They all received word of their award after submitting applications to the commission.
The money the CFFC allocated comes from funds collected as a result of Proposition 10, the Children and Families Act of 1998. The proposition applied a 50-cent
tax on every pack of cigarettes sold in California, with similar taxes on other tobacco products. The money collected by the state, which then divides it among the counties according to the number of births in each county. The state provides the counties with 80 percent of the money it receives, and retains the remainder.
Because the proposition would benefit children and families when voters approved it, members of the CFFC consulted the community on how best to put the money to work for these groups. After many meetings, the CFFC formulated a strategic plan with four major points and 11 major strategies for achieving those goals. One strategy called for a strengthening of childcare.
Karen Blinstrub, spokesperson for the Children and Families First Commission of Santa Clara County, says that most discussions about childcare revealed a basic assumption that all childcare comes from large daycare centers. She says the CFFC also wanted to look at small, family providers also, since, in reality, "family providers are the majority of providers for the county."
"The message I'm getting [from providers] is 'thank you for understanding that it's not just the large centers,' " Blinstrub says. "For most of the providers, this was the first time they had the opportunity to look into facility enhancements."
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Daycare provider Patty McCaul, center, helps Cameron Maeda, 2 1/2, clean up some spilled paint water while his sister, Sara, continues to paint. McCaul has two grown daughters, but loves children and has been providing day care for the last four and a half years.
Patty McCaul, of Patty's Loving Care in Sunnyvale, didn't receive all of the funds she requested, but still received enough to begin planning several improvements in her small, home-based daycare facility.
"I want to make another play area in my garage," McCaul says. "I want to put insulation and carpeting in it so it will be warm during the winter. I also want to make the outside playground better and safer. I'm going to install foam under the equipment."
Blinstrub says 184 child care providers in Santa Clara County applied to receive their share of the funds and "we were fortunate enough to fund almost all of them." The applications were examined by a committee consisting of community members and day care professionals, in order to provide a fair and equal distribution of the funds.
Applicants could ask for one of two options: a grant ranging between $1,000 and $9,000, or a "barter loan" ranging from $10,000 to $50,000. The barter loan is one that recipients must repay the loan in kind, by providing community services, such as free childcare for low-income families and free classes or mentoring sessions.
The CFFC will visit every provider who receives money to ensure the money put to use as stated by the Commission. Part of the contract between the provider and the CFFC also states the provider must allow a social worker into the facility to sign children up for free healthcare when they qualify. The CFFC will also give the providers technical advice about development and licensing issues.
McCaul finds the possibilities of improvement exciting.
"I'm going to love using this money for the kids," she says. "It's like home for them."
McCaul looks forward to getting licensed for 12 children instead of her current limit of six. The improvements to her home will make it easier to accommodate the extra children.
"The need for [funds] is there, and [the CFFC] recognized that," says Laurie Hodge, another Santa Clara County grants recipient, "It's really exciting for us."
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
