EXCERPT FROM: Beaumont Enterprise
By JEMIMAH NOONOO
Jasmine Fontenot once worked two jobs to pay her son Jadyn's weekly child care costs.
But since discovering that Catholic Charties of Southeast Texas has a program to help with daycare expenses, Fontenot no longer tries to cram 70 hours in between two jobs and has more time to spend with 15-month-old Jadyn.
"I know how hard it was for me, even working two jobs," Fontenot, 25, said, of covering Jadyn's $100 weekly daycare costs. "I can only imagine how hard it is for someone whose hours have been cut (because of the recession)."
Thanks to an influx of federal economic stimulus funding, more parents like Fontenot will get help with child care expenses while they work or search for work.
Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas received taxpayer money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in July, allowing the agency to subsidize child care for parents whose work hours were reduced. The money was made available to Southeast Texas parents in October.
Under the charities' regular child care assistance program - the one Fontenot is using - parents had to be working or going to school 30 hours a week to receive child care subsidies.
Now, under guidelines set by the national stimulus plan, parents can receive child care assistance if their hours have been reduced to 20 to 24 hours.