Community Organizing- Childcare Information Services

Child Care Information Services, (CCIS), is a, “subsidized childcare program that helps low-income families pay their child care fees” (YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, 2014). The program is state and government funded, which the offices are managed throughout Pennsylvania according to your county.
In the late 1990’s CCIS’s origin began with assisting the working families only. If a person or persons were receiving TANF benefits their childcare subsidy would come from the Department of Public Welfare. Once those persons would obtain employment their childcare subsidy funding source would automatically transfer to CCIS.
In the mid 2000’s it was determined that CCIS would provide the childcare subsidies for both working families and those receiving TANF benefits. Under the new guidelines TANF clients would receive the childcare subsidies automatically, at the time of applying for cash benefits, to attend training programs, employment, or education.
Families who are working and are not receiving TANF benefits can apply for the childcare subsidies through CCIS, however there is a waiting list, “the waiting list times vary, and usually are at least several months and possibly longer” (Department of Human Service, 2015). (Conexis, 2015)
Without the assistance of CCIS most working families cannot afford to pay the out of pocket expense of childcare. This causes many people to make the hard decision of spending a large percentage of their income on childcare. This places an economic strain on the family. The other option is to resign from their current employment and applying for cash assistance, also placing an economic strain on the family and keeping them below the poverty line.
I have been employed within workforce development programs for several years. During the duration of my time here, I have encountered numerous clients who have quit their jobs and applied for cash assistance to have guaranteed childcare subsidy assistance. A small percentage of clients have been fortunate and employers have been gracious to hold their position open until they have resolved their childcare issues, however most times this does not occur.

A temporary solution for this problem could be neighbors coming together in the community and forming a babysitting club until the subsidy assistance has been approved. Those in the community can determine what their childcare needs are and what specific neighbors can assist in meeting those needs. Again, this would not be a long term solution however it may decrease the amount of people who are deciding to resign from their current positions.
Another option could be a program my current employer offers, Flexible Spending Account, (FSA). FSA, “is a reimbursement account offered by your employer as part of your benefits package. Enrolling in a dependent care plan saves you money. It allows you to use pre-tax dollars to pay for eligible dependent care, such as day care, preschool, before or after-school care for qualified individuals” (Conexis, 2015).
The ultimate goal of both solutions is to reduce the amount of people who are resigning from their employment or those who are being terminated from their current employer due to childcare issues, in turn reducing poverty levels as well as decreasing the number of people applying for cash assistance.

I would recruit differently for each solution. For the first solution, the babysitting club, I would go into the neighborhood and do an assessment by going door to door completing surveys to identify what the childcare needs are, who would be interested in the babysitting club, and the benefits of working together as a community to ensure stable childcare and retaining employment. Based on the data I would gather and collect, I would identify individuals who could be key committee members and facilitate and organize meetings and discussions. If neighbors facilitate the meetings they can empower one another because it’s a relatable, as well as a personal issue. These meetings can also provide an opportunity for other ideas to be presented. When the issue effect you directly you have a better sense of how the issue can be resolved. This option will also allow the neighbors to network amongst themselves with viable solutions to resolve childcare issues.
The long-term goal would be keeping childcare intact until subsidy assistance would be available as well as, retaining and maintaining employment.
There are a couple of issues that may present itself such as, neighbors are not as close-knit as they have been in the past and different members of the community may not feel comfortable with leaving their children with people they do not have a consistent rapport with. There may not be enough members in the community that can rotate the childcare services or accommodate specific individual needs.
For the second solution promoting FSA, I would begin with assessing childcare providers and daycare staff as well as, the parents whose children attend those facilities within the community. I would interview the childcare provider management staff about the amount of delinquent or pasted due balances from parents and how that impacts their facility. I would inquire with the parents about the financial hardships they may be having due to the astronomical amount they have to pay each month for childcare, in addition to, how having that expense affect other monies that have to be rendered each month.
The ultimate goal would be to push local employers to provide their employee’s with FSA benefits. If this benefit is implemented employers retention rate can increase, the employee can maintain employment, as well as have a more efficient monthly budget, and childcare providers would receive payments. I would research and interview the businesses, companies, agencies, and institutions that provide the FSA benefits to their employees and what impact it has from implementing the service. I would explain to the parents and childcare providers the benefits of employers providing FSA. For parents it would be a gradual way throughout the year to put money towards childcare and childcare providers are more likely to be paid in full and in a timely manner
To get employers on board I would have to reach out to more than just parents and childcare providers. . I would a hold town hall meeting inviting politicians and government officials, parents and members of the community, various employers around the community, as well childcare providers. During those meetings I would have parents, childcare providers, and employers, providing personal testimonies about FSA program. This public speaking event can provide an open forum for information to be exchange, as well as empower various members of the community to want to make a difference for themselves, as well as the community as whole.
Childcare providers, parents, and various other community members would need to make numerous phones calls, as well as write letters to our local politicians and state representative in regards to the childcare subsidy issues and how it affects the community overall. Within those letters I would like to have statistics and data from Allegheny County’s Children’s Youth and Family Services stating how many children are left home alone due to lack of adequate childcare. Lobbying and rallying for this issue would need to take place as well.
Organizations, companies, agencies, and businesses that offer more part-time hours will be less likely to want to offer their employees the FSA benefit. Traditionally when working part-time you are usually not offered any benefit packages. This can be very problematic. However, those who are employed part-time would need subsidized childcare or the FSA program more than any other population. An employer that predominately offers part-time hours could consider proposing the FSA program for up to six months or until the subsidy was available from CCIS.

Most families currently have two options for securing child care. First, parents can stay at home and care for their children themselves. But this is increasingly difficult, as most families now rely on two incomes to manage the home. The Second option for families is to use federal- or state-funded aid for child care, but access to any publicly funded program is very limited.

Conexis. (2015). Retrieved from Dependent Care FSA Guidelines: http://uc.conexisfsa.com/Dependent_Care_FSAGuidelines.html
Department of Human Service. (2015, July 13). Retrieved from Child Care Works Subsidized Child Care Program : http://www.dhs.state.pa.us/forchildren/childcareearlylearning/childworkssubidizedchildcareprogram/
YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh. (2014). Retrieved from Child Care Information Service -YWCA Greater Pittsburgh : http://www.ywcapgh.org/programs/child-care-informations-services