EXCERPT FROM: The Washington Informer
By Norma Porter
Fahim Shabazz, a father of two small children, works as an events service supervisor at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Northwest at night. After his eight-hour shift, he hurries home to take care of his four-year-old daughter Aaliyah. Before the bell rings at 3 p.m., he’s at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School in Southeast to pick up his five-year-old daughter Saniyah. It’s become a part of his daily routine.
The lack of affordable daycare in the District could jeopardize his job.
The Shabazz family, who live in Southeast, met the requisite income requirements to receive vouchers under the D.C. Department of Human Services childcare subsidy program. Last month, Shabazz said that he was notified that they were no longer eligible.
Shabazz, along with nearly a hundred child care providers, parents with toddlers in tow and Ward 5 Council member Harry Thomas Jr. protested child care cuts and the closure of more than 13 Department of Parks and Recreation Center (DPR) daycare centers on the steps of the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest on Thu., Nov. 19. The protest was sponsored by the Washington Association of Child Care Centers (WACCC) and Empower DC, a nonprofit based in Northwest that assists low-income District residents obtain equitable city services.
“The subsidy really helped me and their mom to work. Now that we have lost the subsidy, I pay $200 a week, that’s $800 a month, when I was paying anywhere from $30-40 a week,” Shabazz, 42, said as he stood in front of the Wilson building with his daughters.
“Without childcare it’s a burden on my pockets because [if I don’t have child care] then I would have to stay home and take care of them. If I am not able to work then how can I provide a place of shelter for them.”
Protestors, including more than two dozen toddlers dressed in water proof ponchos, endured the rain as they held signs that read: “I am three, don’t forget about me”, “Toddlers need education” and R.I.P. DPR Daycares.”
The childcare subsidy program, established under The Day Care Policy Act of 1979, provides subsidized daycare rates for families to ensure that children have access to early childhood education. Families must meet certain income requirements based on family size.
“If I don’t have child care, I can’t go to work. Before I can do my job -- when I wake up in the morning and go to bed at night -- I’m a mother. If my children don’t have anywhere safe to go or quality child care, I will actually have to quit my job,” said Tanya Pickett of Southeast.
“When I leave my children [at daycare], I know that they are going to be learning the same values that they learn at home,” she said during the protest.
Since the 2008 budget cuts, put in place by the Fenty administration, funding has been slashed for childcare services by $22 million, which has resulted in the closure of more than 12 DPR daycare centers, 10 childcare centers, 18 licensed home childcare providers and several community-based centers. Childcare providers who participate in the city’s childcare subsidy program continue to be compensated at 75 percent of the 2004 market rate, which means that families pay a discounted rate and childcare providers have to pay the difference out of pocket.
Childcare center owners like Benita Lewis, the executive director of Zena’s Child Development Center in Southeast, said she feels the sting of the budget cuts.
“When the government underfunds child care, the burden falls on the shoulders of providers,” Lewis said. “I have personally depleted my retirement savings to continue paying my staff and to keep our doors open so we can serve our community.”
The city closed DPR daycares because former interim DPR director Ximena Hartstock insisted that DPR’s role did not include education of children. Hartstock closed centers in Wards 6, 7, and 8 and privatized the centers. She ignored the Council’s legislation that requires DPR to submit an audit of the quality of care in DPR daycares.
Thomas said that he stands behind childcare workers and believes that the city needs to correct the situation.
“As a council member I am not interested in bringing in new people to provide daycare services when we have qualified people in front of me who can do the work, know our children and deserve the support that this city is not giving [them] as they try to bring quality daycare services to these young people,” Thomas said.
Full text available at The Washington Informer.