ADVOCATES TOUT FREE CHILD CARE

County encouraged to use $5M to give free month to workers on the front lines

Child care advocates in San Diego County are asking the county to use $5 million to pay for one month of free child care for 3,000 essential service workers.

“These essential workers cannot show up for us if we do not help them with child care,” said Laura Kohn, director of early workforce development at the San Diego Workforce Partnership, in a media call Wednesday.

Advocates also are calling for hazard pay for child care workers, which is extra pay to account for the risks they are taking by physically going to work and interacting with many people.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Saturday that makes essential workers such as health care employees, first responders and grocery store workers eligible for state-subsidized child care regardless of income.

Advocates have said they worry that hospitals will not be able to handle a future surge in COVID-19 cases because many health care employees lack affordable child care options.

Becky Bland, who works at Tricity Medical Center and is a member of Seiu-united Healthcare Workers West, said during Wednesday’s call that she has to use paid time off to stay at home and watch her kids. Her husband’s work is increasingly requiring him to go out to job sites.

In the past, she relied on family and friends for child care, but she can’t now.

“I’ve exhausted my efforts to try and find child care,” Bland said. “We are limited on resources. We are frustrated. We are nervous about our financial situation.”

Tim Nipper, another employee at Tri-city and a member of SEIU, said he has worked with multiple COVID-19 positive patients using minimal personal protective equipment, and yet he hasn’t been tested for the virus.

He is currently paying his 17-year-old niece about $100 a week to watch his two kids, ages 14 and 11.

“It’s extremely stressful to go to work and focus on taking care of others when you have limits on taking care of your own family,” Nipper said.

As of April 1, there were about 3,900 child care providers still open in the county while 467 had closed, according to Community Care Licensing. Almost all family child care homes and about 58 percent of child care centers remained open.

Child care is an essential service, so providers can remain open despite the stayat-home order affecting most other industries.

Yet thousands of child care slots are vacant as many providers have seen drops in attendance as more families stay home.

Compared to vacancies, there are few parents searching for child care, according to a recent YMCA Childcare Resource Service report. About 232 parents have called YMCA’S child care referral line and there were 112 online searches for child care on the Childcare Resource Service website from March 14 to April 1.

A donation fund run by the nonprofit San Diego For Every Child is offering $575 grants to low-income essential service workers to pay for child care. The fund is also offering $100 grants to families who need financial help to buy food, cleaning supplies and other needed items.

Families can request a grant online at www.sandiegoforeverychild.org/covid19.

Families seeking child care can call the YMCA Childcare Resource Service referral line at (800) 4812151.