Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Blog 2
Throughout the advocacy plan process I have gained valuable insight into one of my main topics, Diabetes type 1 in the early childhood classroom, however I am having a little trouble in allocating childcare financial assistance for one of the three families at my host site. The state does provide assistance to qualifying low income families but these families must meet certain income levels. I found scholarship opportunities provided through Michigan's Great Start program which allows over income help but there is a long wait list.
Does anyone know of any financial assistance that lower-income (under middle class) families can access to enroll their 3 year old in a quality early childhood program?
I have brainstormed with the family and the teacher but so far we have been unable to come up with an appropriate plan. I have however been thinking about a co-op situation and was wondering if anyone has had any luck with such a plan? My thoughts are the parent could, if willing, get the appropriate clearances and trainings to become a volunteer that could supervise the children. Although this would not be a paid position the program could use this parent to assist in the classroom and possibly give the family a credit on the bill.
It may be a long shot but I would love to hear your thoughts on this before I approach the director and parent.
I have found the State of Michigan (www.mi.gov) and Great Start (www.greatstartforkids.org) websites to be very helpful in determining eligibility for these three families but if anyone has any other helpful websites or resources please let me know.
Smiles,
Katrina
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Hello Katrina, this is a very interesting advocacy topic. I did not know that they had a scholarship for this. I believe that an idea will be soon to come. There are times that when you are thinking about something, you do not receive any ideas until you are not thinking about it. Good luck discovering ideas. I have not been able to do a co-op idea, but I believe you should go for it. It sounds as if it is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteKatrina,
ReplyDeleteHave you tried any other non for profit organizations that could assist with the co-pay? In Illinois there is Child Care Connection who helps pay parents co-pay. I am wondering is the parent available to volunteer in the classroom? I am not sure how many parents would have time for this? Have you thought about who will ensue the cost of the training and background checks? Just some thoughts.
Katrina,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to leave a personal note of thanks to you for helping me with my advocacy plan. A comment you left on my blog related to a question I had asked in my post led me to slightly revise my advocacy plan. The revision paid off as my audience was happy that I had included local resources in my advocacy plan. Thanks for pointing me in that direction. Best of luck to you on your future endeavors!