This section includes information on three paths to serving young people, presented in chronological order: child care services, after-school services and youth services.
Child Care
Most working parents need child care. Quality care that addresses a young person’s needs in early child development and health and safety leads to better school performance. This is especially true for children from low-income communities. Finding quality, affordable care that meets their goals, however, is especially challenging for low-income parents. Community-based organizations (CBOs) that focus on housing have a unique opportunity to help their residents with the important decisions concerning types of child care as well as specific child care providers.
In order to be of assistance to their residents, CBOs need to understand the child care issues in their community, including parents’ goals, the available child care resources, and the quality and capacity of those resources. The child care support materials in this manual provide guidelines for addressing questions about such issues as finding quality child care, understanding types of care and paying for care. The resources, some of which are geared towards parents as well as resident services coordinators, are all centered on helping parents find the care that fits their unique needs.
After-School Programs After-school programs are often the core offering of housing-based resident services programs. Homework help and educational support are critically needed in low-income communities, where school systems tend to be struggling and working parents don’t always have the time or ability to help their children with homework. Parental work schedules can also cause school-age children to be unattended and home alone during the afternoon. The resources provided here help you plan your organization’s strategy for directly providing or just connecting residents to after-school programs.
Youth Programs
Pre-teens and teenagers have a critical need for strong supports and healthy places to be. This need arises from the unique issues related to young people’s physical, social and emotional development. For example, during a child’s preteen or early teen years, the external world, beginning with their circle of peers and moving outward to the world at large, has a tremendous effect on the choices they make. The environment and youth programs that your organization provides can make a real difference in their lives and futures, providing them with safe, enjoyable social activities as well as positive role models.
2. The Importance of Early Care and Education: Quality child care provides both care and early learning. Research has proven the value and effect of quality care on later outcomes in childhood and into adulthood. This document describes some key elements affected by quality child care, or the lack of it.
3. Types of Child Care: There are a variety of child care arrangemen that could support the families in your neighborhood. These arrangements differ based on the setting, the providers’ certification and the funding streams and regulatory requirements. Understanding the types of care will help you navigate the broad array of choices and better identify those that will meet the specific goals of the families you serve.
4. Child Care Referral Sources: This form will help you to identify child care referral sources available in your neighborhood and analyze your residents’ child care goals.
5. Understanding Child Care Subsidies: Funding for child care is complicated, and many parents are unaware of how to access the help that is available. This document will introduce you to the various types of child care funding and connect you to resources for additional information.
6. Resources for Finding Quality Child Care: Choosing a safe and appropriate child care provider is one of the most important decisions a parent has to make. The resources listed in this document will help you and your residents understand the questions to ask and what to look for in making this critical decision.
7. Survey to Determine Parents’ Child Care Needs: This survey should be an early step in your evaluation of your residents’ child care goals. It is designed to be filled out by the parent or guardian, and the responses will help you determine what kind of care is needed.
8. Child Care Search Worksheet for Parents: Resident services coordinators can give this form to parents who are looking for care. It will help parents compare the wealth of information their research uncovers. This form is designed to be used with a checklist for determining the quality of care, such as Child Care Aware’s “Evaluating a Provider,” (www.childcareaware.org).
9. How Safe is Your (or Your Provider’s) Home?: Children’s physical well-being is assured through careful supervision in an environment made safe for their use. You can provide these checklists to your residents to help them assure that their child care provider’s home or center is safe for children.
10. Resources and Tools for Supporting Child Care Programs: This list offers dozens of resources for individuals and organizations Interested in providing quality and affordable care for children. It offers information on a variety of topics, including developing child care programs, designing facilities, environmental and health hazards, funding, homeownership and legal support.
11. Starting an After-School Program: This document will take you step-by-step through the process of starting an after-school program.
12. Effective Administration and Policies for After-School Programs: A good administrative structure sets up clear lines of accountability and authority, and should ensure that people both within and outside the organization know who is responsible for what. This document will help you create such a structure for your after-school program.
13. Developing a Curriculum for an After-School Program: This document will help you understand how to create a curriculum for an after-school child care program that stimulates children emotionally and intellectually and meets parents’ goals.
14. Finding Funding for an After-School Program: It is vital for afterschool child care programs to have multiple funding streams to ensure program sustainability. This document will help you find and tap into various funding streams.
15. Hiring and Developing Staff for an After-School Program: The exact make-up of any program’s staff will depend on the program&rsquo goals and philosophy, the strengths and skills needed to round out a care-giving team, and the available applicants. This document will take you through the hiring process, staff development and evaluation for a after-school child care program.
16. Evaluating After-School Programs: When evaluating the quality of an after-school program, it helps to have uniform standards to use as a guide. This document outlines general standards developed by the National School-Age Care Alliance for various features of after-school programs.
17. Creating Handbooks for an After-School Program: A handbook detailing the rules and procedures for your after-school program is essential to maintaining consistency. This document provides an outline that you can follow to build effective handbooks for your after-school child care program.
18. Designing Programs to Engage Youth: Successful youth programs can reduce achievement gaps for low-income children by creating a space where family, neighborhood and school values are integrated. This document will help you to design such a program for your young residents.
19. Encouraging Youth to Stay in School: The lack of a high school degree often results in poverty, lower earnings and higher unemployment rates. This document will provide you with information and resources that you can use to convince your young residents to stay in school.
20. Supporting Youth Employment: Youth employment can offer teens and young adults an opportunity to earn income and begin developing a range of job skills and experience. Therefore, it is important for young people to learn both specific job-related skills and soft skills (such as understanding workplace behavior and work ethics) in order for them to succeed in the workforce.
