November 6, 2000

Churches encouraged to offer weekday child programs
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___HOUSTON--Churches are missing a vital opportunity to shape the future of society if they don't offer a weekday child-care program, participants in the Faith in Action conference were told.
___Ellen McKinley, founder and executive director of the Child Development Education Alliance, made this appeal to participants in the statewide conference sponsored by the governor's office and Leadership Network.
___Birth to age 3 are the most critical years of childhood development, she said. "During these years, you are laying the foundation for all other learning."
___Research has demonstrated a correlation between preschool education and social development later in life, McKinley reported. So if churches are concerned about creating good citizens and moral leaders for the future, they ought to invest in preschool education, she added.
___Texas is a good place for churches to take on this task, the Florida resident said, because Texas is one of the few states that has done a good job of implementing charitable choice funding of faith-based child-care programs.
___That doesn't mean churches should get into the child-care business thinking they'll make money, she said. "This is not a money-making proposition."
___However, if motivated by a sense of mission and ministry, churches can make a significant impact on their member families and on other families in their communities, she said.
___Too many churches think they can't afford to serve their communities in this way, McKinley said. But by tapping appropriate government resources and by developing a scholarship program, churches can be successful, she added.
___Her sentiments were echoed by Nancy Pechacek Hard, director of child care management for the Texas Workforce Commission.
___In Texas, she explained, federal government money for low-income families to receive child-care is applied specifically to help those in the transition from welfare to work. Under this voucher-type system, parents are free to choose their own child-care provider, even a faith-based provider.
___There is an urgent need for more community-based child-care services, like those offered by churches in neighborhoods, she said, explaining that most parents prefer to use child-care providers near where they live rather than near where they work.
___McKinley explained the basic economics of running a child-care program, noting that because the child-to-teacher ratio must be smaller for infants, successful programs must offer both infant care and care for older preschoolers.
___There's also a great need for churches to offer quality after-school programs to help working parents, she said.
___Not only do such programs offer hope for the future, they also provide immediate benefits, McKinley said. In communities where quality child-care is not available, children often fail to learn basic skills needed to start school--and they are more likely to be left at home with inadequate supervision, she explained.
___Churches thinking of beginning child-care programs should first appoint a study committee to determine the need, McKinley advised. The committee should conduct a survey, contact the state licensing agency and evaluate the church's facilities before making a recommendation to the church, she added.
___For more information about the Child Development Education Alliance, contact McKinley at (904) 276-2071 or visit www.cdealliance.org.
___For more information about government funding of Texas child-care providers, contact your local Workforce Development Board.
___A directory of those boards is available online at www.texasworkforce.org.
___

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