An army of roughly 170 children, some as young as two or three, took to the streets to protest $517 million in cuts, which threaten a program that they and their families rely on for education and social services. Marching through the Mission with approximately 70 teachers, volunteers and parents, they chanted “no more cuts” and “childcare keeps California working.”
Since 1971, Family Service Agency of San Francisco has provided multilingual childcare and extensive health and education services for at-risk families through their Infant Care, Preschool Childcare and Child Care Food Programs, but the organization has been around since 1889; it was the city’s first non-sectarian non-profit.
Director of the program’s Children Youth and Family Division, Yohana Quiroz, said the proposed cuts represent over a quarter of the total budget.
“We already received an 18 percent cut of about $140,000, which translates to about 40 kids who lost care,” she said. “If the new cuts go through, about 60 kids would no longer be able receive care, so it’s distressing.”
The roughly 200 families currently participating in the program enjoy access to free childcare, and a wide variety of health and education services including: parenting workshops, some basic medical services and nutritional assistance, like the weekly farmer’s market, which serves about 150 families.
Family Services Coordinator Rachel Menell said that many of those enrolled in the program face financial barriers to maintaining a healthy diet and that the farmers market helps to offset this.
“We’re trying to promote a healthy lifestyle and encourage our families and kids to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables,” she said. “Sometimes we’ll prepare a recipe using the food we’re offering and do a demonstration.”
Menell said that most of the families have little experience with the high-nutrition ingredients like brown rice, so the demonstrations help to educate them.
The farmers market, where each family is allowed to take home $40 to $50 in groceries, is one example of how the program tries to create what Quiroz calls a “one stop” for working, at-risk families.
“We’re not only a childcare program for these families, they count on us for getting them connected with services,” she said. “Over 30 percent of our children have identified special needs, so that’s important.”
Karina Flores cleans houses for a living and said that the program makes work possible for her and many other parents.
“We get the opportunity to go to work or school,” she said. “Cuts to the program could hurt my family very badly because without their help with childcare I would be unable to work.”
Both of her children received specialized attention to their medical needs and development they would not likely have received otherwise.
“My kids both had speech and language delays, so they benefited,” she said.
Quinoz said the program is vital to the community, which benefits from parents being able to work because they have childcare, and from the increased chances for success the program provides for kids. She knows firsthand the impact it can have on kids and families because she is a program success story.
“I was a teen parent and that’s how I got involved,” she said, adding that the program provides parents with crucial information about their children’s development. “In this neighborhood, where many families have concerns about their immigration status, we have a special and vital relationship of trust with them … we provide a space where families feel safe asking for help.”
And for now, many of them get it. But if the cuts continue, some of them will be left with no place to go.