Hailed as ‘Role Model’ : City of Irvine to Join in Child-Care Project

The city of Irvine is being called a “role model” for other Orange County cities after taking action this week to provide child care for all residents and city employees.

In what is believed to be the first such municipal action in the nation, the City Council voted to participate in the operation of the Irvine Child Development Center through a nonprofit public benefit corporation. The council also agreed to loan the corporation $182,000 in start-up funds for the center.

“I’m gratified to see we’re making progress on our commitment to provide decent, affordable, quality child care to every child whose parent either lives or works in Irvine who needs such child care,” Mayor Larry Agran said at the council meeting Tuesday.

Members of the city-appointed Irvine Child Care Committee, which recommended setting up the nonprofit corporation to operate the center, agreed.

“The city has long supported community solutions to problems, and this is a perfect example of that,” said Kate Clark, chairwoman of the 16-member committee. “This kind of collective effort between the community and the city seems to be an ideal arrangement.”

In the planning stages for three years, the $1.3-million child-care center is part of the new civic center complex now under construction at Alton Parkway and Harvard Avenue. Clark said the facility will be licensed to serve up to 100 children.

“We have a waiting list already from city employees. And we have received a number of calls from community people,” Clark said.

While the lack of child-care services is a countywide problem, officials of the Children’s Home Society of California commended the city of Irvine for facing the issue.

Lisa Velarde, a spokeswoman for the private nonprofit agency that provides referrals and financial assistance to parents in need of day care, said Irvine was a “role model” for other cities in the county.

Orange County, with the second largest child population in the state behind Los Angeles County, is in desperate need of more child-care centers, Velarde said.

For the 137,000 Orange County children 3 to 5 years old, there are only 36,291 licensed child-care spaces available. Only 3,636 spaces are available for the 66,400 children younger than 3 years of age.

The county administrative office predicts that the local need for child-care services will increase by as much as 17% within the next 10 years.

County Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez, who has urged the county to serve as a role model by opening a child-care center in the county Civic Center, also commended the city of Irvine for its action.

“I think it’s a very positive step and indicative of things to come,” Vasquez said. “(Child care) is something that has clearly come of age as a result of the tremendous necessity we have in Orange County. . . . Child care in general has come of age as an issue. It’s going to be a prominent agenda item for the ‘90s.”

Clark of the Irvine Child Care Committee said getting the go-ahead from the city on how the child-care center will be operated is only the beginning.

“Now the real work begins,” Clark said. Operating policies, finances, maintenance and other issues will now have to be addressed.

Clark said the nonprofit corporation will be governed by an 11-member board of directors, with the majority of members made up of private citizens.

The board of directors will include four members from the community at large, two parents of children enrolled in the program, a City Council appointee, a Child Care Committee appointee, a community services appointee, the city child-care coordinator and the director of the center.

The city child care coordinator and the director of the center will be the only two non-voting members.

Said Child Care Coordinator Nancy Noble:

“You have city participation without the city having to have direct responsibility for operating it both financially and otherwise.”

Agran agreed. “It’s sensible,” he said. “We want to create the most flexible operating structure possible. We want to have the public and private sectors behind this.”