PIERCE COLLEGE : State Awards Child-Care Grant

A state grant of up to $148,000 has been awarded to the Pierce College Child Development Center to set up a health-screening program and to help offset child-care costs for low-income parents who are enrolled at the college.

The grant is part of a larger sum awarded to centers on eight of the nine campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District. Valley College was not eligible for the grant because it receives funding from another source.

Each of the eight centers receiving grants will contribute $8,000 of the funds to establish a joint nursing program.

A nurse will be hired to give children enrolled at the centers health screenings two to four times a year, said Katherine Reiter, supervisor for the Pierce grant.

The full amount of the potential $148,000 has to be earned, Reiter said. The amount received will be based on the number of children enrolled at the center.

One stipulation is that the center must expand. This semester, the center must fill 45 positions to receive the entire amount allotted.

Reiter explained that more than one child may fill one child-care position for purposes of the grant. If one child comes Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while another is enrolled Tuesdays and Thursdays, only one position is considered filled.

The center may not get the full amount of the grant this semester because it has only filled 36.4 positions, Reiter said. However, she said she hopes to be able to increase enrollment by hiring another teacher within the next few weeks.

“We have to earn the money,” she said. “They are not just going to hand over all the money to buy a million crayons if we only need a hundred crayons.”

The Pierce center has reached the maximum legal ratio of teachers to children. An additional teacher would allow the center to enroll the nine children needed to fulfill the grant requirement, she said.

There are 81 applicants on the center’s waiting list. Three- and 4-year-olds will receive priority financial assistance from grant funds, Reiter said.

Child-care costs to parents are based on a sliding scale depending on income. Fees range from 75 cents to $2 an hour. Parents must be enrolled in courses totaling at least six units at the college.