When Zulma Itzel’s partner unexpectedly passed away, life quickly saddled her with a series of setbacks. A dispute at her apartment building left her without housing. Her car was towed, and without a reliable place to live and transportation, Zulma was soon out of a job. A single mother with a preschool-age son, she struggled to make ends meet.
Zulma found herself at the Lifepath Christian Ministries Women’s Shelter in York.
“I was really scared that day when I came,” she says. “How was I going to do it with child care and all this other stuff? I was just losing it.”
Like so many parents, Zulma faced a challenge. She needed child care so she could get a job, but she needed a job to afford child care.
Removing barriers for families in crisis
That’s the seemingly inescapable cycle that the Child Care Works program, administered locally by Community Connections for Children (CCC), helps to break every day. Child Care Works provides subsidies to assist low income working families in paying for child care.
Through the CCW program, families experiencing homelessness across York County are being connected to quality child care so parents can focus on rebuilding their lives.
“At CCC we support our families when they’re transitioning ‒ job searching, going back to school ‒ by offering subsidized Child Care Works programs based on family size and income,” says Michele Salsgiver, Eligibility Manager at Community Connections for Children. “It helps income-eligible families find quality child care.”
For families experiencing homelessness, time is critical. In the CCW program, those families are prioritized, and their applications are processed right away.
Another problem for such families is pulling together eligibility paperwork, especially if they had to leave their home quickly. Through CCW, families get up to 92 days to meet verification requirements and provide documentation. That grace period gives parents the breathing room to focus on stability while knowing that their children are safe and receiving good care.
Restoring hope and opportunity
Michele and her team at CCC maintain relationships with local shelters, where many parents such as Zulma have found refuge.
“We have close relationships with shelters like LifePath and Bell Socialization Services,” Michele says. “They refer families to us and we’ll work one on one with families and walk through the process.”
For Zulma, getting connected to resources has taken a weight off her shoulders. As she works toward stability, she’s had the mental and emotional space to begin to form new goals for her future.
“I would love to move forward, finish my career,” she says. “When I can get him enrolled in child care, maybe I can go back to school and pay attention to my career as well.”
Strengthening families, strengthening communities
In York County, 3,000 children from 1,800 families receive CCW assistance, ensuring that their parents can pursue education and employment while the children thrive in early learning settings.
“When parents have reliable child care, they can focus on their own goals like job hunting, education, or starting a new job,” Michele says. “They don’t have to worry if their child has care, if they’re safe. It gives them the opportunity to improve skills and performance.”
The impact of that assistance extends beyond helping individual families to strengthening the local economy. Businesses maintain a more reliable workforce when their employees have access to dependable early learning. At the same time, children gain a solid educational footing before they start kindergarten.
“In the long run it builds stronger families and a stronger community,” Michele says. “I’ve witnessed how access to child care can help these families and parents go from struggling to thriving. Parents and kids have a better future.”
That’s what Zulma is working toward every day, a future where she and her son can grow, learn, and get back to thriving.
Community Connections for Children (CCC) is the Early Learning Resource Center (ELRC) for seven Pennsylvania counties, including York. CCC administers the Child Care Works Subsidized Child Care Program and Keystone STARS Quality Initiative and offers resource and referral services to families and childcare providers. CCC helps families access quality childcare to support children’s success in school and life. Learn more at www.cccforpa.org.
Every Child Has Opportunities (ECHO) is an early childhood education initiative in York County, Pennsylvania, led by Community Connections for Children and York County Economic Alliance. Funding partners include WellSpan Health, the J. William Warehime Foundation, the Powder Mill Foundation, United Way of York County, the Kinsley Foundation, and the York County Community Foundation.
The goal of ECHO is to double the number of children from low-income families in York County who will receive high-quality early childhood education. For more information, visit www.echoyork.org.