Latchkey Children Getting Boost From State Grants

The Burbank Unified School District and two San Fernando Valley organizations will receive a total of $440,928 from the state for programs to help latchkey children, state education officials said Thursday.

The North Hollywood branches of Volunteers of America and the YMCA will get the other grants as part of the first state-sponsored program to provide day-care facilities for latchkey children--those left at home unattended while their parents are at work.

State officials estimate there are 800,000 such children in California.

A bill signed by the governor in September set aside $15.3 million to establish and improve day-care programs for 16,000 children, according to Robert Cervantes, assistant superintendent of the Department of Education’s child development division.

“That means 16,000 less kids going home alone or 16,000 less kids out on the street,” he said.

The Valley area recipients were notified of their grants two weeks ago and are negotiating contracts with the state. The legislation requires, among other things, that they furnish details on how they will raise money to match the state allocation.

The Burbank school district will receive the largest grant, $249,352, to add 70 children to its day-care program, which has an enrollment of 230.

The money also will subsidize about 100 children now paying for the before- and after-school care, said Goldie Bemel, director of child development for the district.

“We are hoping to make child care more affordable. It allows us to serve parents who are finding the payments a hardship,” Bemel said.

Only half of the children in any of the programs can receive state subsidies. Families of the rest must pay for the service, which costs about $40 a week.

“It is not a welfare child-care program,” Cervantes said. “It is a program that seeks to address the needs of the working people but also the middle-income” people.

60 More Children

A day-care program serving 125 children at Volunteers of America’s Maud Booth Family Center in North Hollywood proposes to use the $69,720 it will get to accommodate up to 60 additional children.

But Patsy Lane, director of the center, said finding enough parents who can pay for the service may be a problem. “We want to serve the people who are low income, and we don’t want to penalize them because we can’t find an equal number of middle-class people,” she said.

Cervantes said that some programs in low-income areas may be able to get the 50% requirement waived.

Third Recipient

The third grant recipient is the East Valley branch of the YMCA in North Hollywood, which will get $121,856.

The three were among six applicants from the Valley area for the grants.

Under the bill written by Sen. David Roberti (D-Los Angeles), applicants were required to have a site for their program and submit a comprehensive plan outlining family and community involvement, programs for the children and staffing.