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City Platform Section II, Step 2:
"Provide information for parents that helps them find and assess the quality of available child care and preschool options, utilizing both print and web-based materials developed in partnership with community agencies."
Finding reliable, quality child care is a critical factor to parents' ability to maintain stable employment, which in turn impacts family economic security and the strength of the local workforce. Moreover, when children have access to high-quality early learning environments, they are more likely to develop the social and cognitive skills they need to enter school ready to succeed.
City Examples
San Antonio, Texas
The City of San Antonio is home to a number of publicly-funded early childhood education and development programs - including child care subsidies, Head Start, and school-district public pre-kindergarten programs - but until recently, families had to apply for each system separately and these programs couldn't easily share data about waiting lists.
To improve service delivery and maximize resources, the City's Department of Community Initiatives designed KidFirst, an internet-based single portal of entry for child care assistance. The program is designed as an "electronic bridge," connecting parents seeking publicly-funded care with available slots in appropriate programs. Using the online application, parents answer a few simple questions and receive information on which programs are available.
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Palo Alto, Calif.
The City of Palo Alto created a Family Resource website in response to citizen input that they needed better ways of locating and accessing child care and other services in the community. Launched in January 2000, this website helps citizens sift through the vast array of available programs and services to find those resources most appropriate to their particular needs.
The resources in the community are organized on the website into eight categories of services: child care; emergency/crisis; basic needs; community resources; disability resources; education; health care; and mental health counseling. Because every record is updated annually, it is a reliable source of accurate information on more than 580 resources.
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Resources
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