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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/2/2020 Item Public Comment, Roudebush From:Kris Roudebush < To:E-mail Council Website Subject:Public Comment from 6/2/20 Attachments:image001.jpg; WATC May-June 2020_ SLO City.docx Dear Madam Mayor and Council Members, Thank you for the opportunity to provide public comment yesterday evening regarding the We Are the Care Initiative. I was able to listen to your discussion following and apologize for any confusion. First 5 is indeed working with Meghan Burger from Parks & Recreation specifically for the Child Care Study. If you desire she can fill the roll of Child Care Liaison for the City of SLO. I did want to let you know that other communities (currently Grover Beach and Morro Bay) have appointed an council member to serve this role to ensure that the council is up to date on information in the community. It is entirely up to you, and if you have follow-up questions please feel free to contact me. More on We Are the Care can be found HERE. Additionally, you can find a copy of the statement read last night attached. Many thanks, Kris Roudebush -- Kris Roudebush, Special Projects Administrator First 5 San Luis Obispo County 3220 S. Higuera Street #232 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 805-781-4058 http://www.first5slo.org/ The linked image cannot be displayed. The file may have been moved, renamed, or deleted. Verify that the link points to the correct file and location. 1 Greetings from the We Are the Care Initiative, Now more than ever, we are reminded that access to quality and affordable care is vital for our community to function and support our economy. We can clearly see that child care professionals are now, and always have been, an essential part of our workforce. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted and forever changed the life of every member in our community. Parents are no longer working under normal conditions, if at all, and children are no longer attending school or child care centers in the traditional manner. We do not know for certain when our lives will return to normal, but we hold onto the knowledge that someday, we will all go back to work, and children will go back to school. But according to a recent study by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the Center for American Progress, almost half of all licensed child care centers and family child care homes are at risk of closing due to COVID-19. This will throw an already in-crisis child care system into utter chaos. In order for our economy to get back on its feet, we NEED child care providers. If we do not support the private sector of child care , many families will be unable to work when the time comes. We thank the City of San Luis Obispo for its engagement thus far in the Child Care Study. And we are also asking you to go one small step further in supporting early childhood and child care and appoint a member of this council or staff as a Child Care Liaison. Your Child Care Liaison will be our first point of contact, and we hope to build a relationship with that individual so that together we can make great changes for the families and the workforce of the San Luis Obispo community. We thank you for your support in our first year as an initiative, and hope you continue to support us as we work together to solve the child care crisis. If you want to learn more about the We Are the Care Initiative or to get involved, please contact First 5 San Luis Obispo County or find more information on our website, www.first5slo.org.