Committee on Family, Health and Human Services Minutes
July 18, 2006
Committee Members in attendance: Judy Myers, Chair, William Burton, Ursula LaMotte, and Clinton Young.
In Attendance: BOL: Legislator Vito Pinto, Louise Gantress, Susan Kirkpatrick, Betsy DeSoye, Yolanda Robinson, Gary Kriss and Melanie Montalto.CEO: William Randolph; Guests: Kathy Halas & Sandy Kewely of the Child Care Council of Westchester,and Liz Anderson of the Journal News.
Items Discussed: The Child Care Council presented an update on the Westchester County Child Care Scholarship application process.
Minutes
Chairwoman Myers called the meeting to order at 12:10 p.m.
Kathy Halas, Director of the Child Care Council of Westchester, went through the Council’s monthly report on the Westchester County Child Care Scholarship application process. A copy of the monthly report is on file.
The Council received a total of 207 applications for the scholarship. The bulk of the applications came in during the week of the deadline, and the Council has not had time to determine the eligibility of them all. Thus far, 27 out of the 64 initial applications have been determined to be ineligible. Of those ineligible 13 were referred to the Department of Social Services because they qualify for the County Child Care Subsidy Program.
The report includes a breakdown of the 207 applications by household type, number of children per household, gross income, location of residence, parents occupation, the age of the children, their current type of child care, current child care costs, and how they heard about the scholarship.
The Council stated that they are surprised that most of the children are in school and in need of after school care. This has not been the case in their experience with the Sally Ziegler Scholarship over the past few years.
The Council expressed some disappointment in the information sessions that were held regarding the scholarships. While they were well promoted and the information was circulated, the sessions were not well attended. The only session that drew a crowd was in Mount Vernon, with 25 people attending. Only 3 people went to the session at the Yonkers Library, despite many efforts by the Council and the Library itself.
Sandy Kewely, Associate Director of the Child Care Council, discussed the application review process with the Committee. She said each application takes time to go through, because each one has its own story, and every application draws questions by the Council. She stated that the applications are never clearly eligible or ineligible.
Sandy Kewely described some situations that were not considered when creating the eligibility criteria for the scholarship. No allowance has been made for families who have a gross income exceeding the limit set for eligibility but the father in the household is paying child support to children living in separate households. Child support payments received are taken into consideration as part of income, but payments made are not considered a deduction. The reason simply being that the scenario was not thought of during the brainstorming process. The scholarship criteria also do not take into consideration disabled parents who cannot work, and cannot take of their children all day.
Chairwoman Myers asked what the timetable is moving forward. Kathy Halas explained that they will announce who will be receiving the scholarship awards the week of August 7th. The Committee and the Council agreed to meet again on August 22nd, 2006 to go over the final results of the application process and distribution of the awards. This will allow some time for the Council to work out any problems after the recipients have been chosen and informed.
Chairwoman Myers thanked Kathy Halas, Sandy Kewely, and the Child Care Council of Westchester for working so hard and making this scholarship possible in such a short period of time.
Chairwoman Myers informed the Committee that she is also working with the Child Care Council and representatives of County Executive’s administration to better inform County employees of the Dependent Care Flexible Spending Plan, which allows employees to put aside pre-tax dollars for child care payments. They are also working to improve the program and possibly offer other ways to help pay for child care. A survey has been created for employees currently enrolled in the program, and for all employees with children.
Moved by Legislator Burton and seconded by Legislator LaMotte the Committee on Families, Health and Human Services adjourned at 12:50 p.m.
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