Prioritizing Child Care for Irvine’s Families

After quite possibly the most demanding year families have ever faced, we all recognize the value of quality affordable child care. Child care has always been essential for working families. In a pandemic, it is critical for our community’s survival.

Irvine sees the overwhelming stress families are under, and is doing something about it. Yesterday the Irvine Children’s Fund (ICF) received grants for child care scholarships for Irvine’s families. The funds are provided by the Irvine City Council through the U.S. Department of Labor’s Community Development Block Grant, Public Service, and Coronavirus Grant programs amount to more than $970,000.

Photo credit Markus Spiske.

There are two components to the award. The smaller of those is a one-time three-year $70,000 CDBG Public Service grant for ICF to fund before and after-school child care scholarships for low income, working families in Irvine. The second, larger component is a one time, three-year grant of $900,000 to help Irvine families negatively impacted by the pandemic.

“These grants go a tremendously long way in allowing us to help deliver quality, affordable child care to Irvine families,” says ICF Board President Greg Goodrich. “Now, more than ever, parents are facing various challenges. The City’s direction of CDBG grants to the Irvine Children’s Fund demonstrates our community’s commitment to Irvine families.”

The ICF, which oversees the Irvine Junior Games as its signature fundraising and community building event, was established in 1987. The organization works in collaboration with the city of Irvine, the Irvine Unified School District (IUSD), and the Irvine Child Care Project, to support working families with before and after-school child care. The ICF has provided over two million dollars in scholarships for child care at each of IUSD’s elementary school campuses.

“Irvine is unique in that child care is available at every elementary school campus in the Irvine Unified School District’s overlay,” says Sharon Wellikson, ICF’s Executive Director. “The city of Irvine and IUSD should be immensely proud of their role in supporting and expanding school-age child care and we are proud to partner with them.”

“Accessibility to quality affordable child care is a challenge for working families everywhere,” says Irvine Mayor Farrah N. Khan. “Our city council stands firmly behind this grant to the Irvine Children’s Fund to help parents return to the workplace during such an economically challenging time.”

Find out more information about the Irvine Children’s Fund.