A life-line for poor parents

by Linda S. and Mike Malecek

The crowded meeting room of the Peralta Community College Board of Trustees is hot and muggy. The many members of the community that have shown up create a background of noise that calms me down. Over the murmur of voices I hear children crying, and the ring of an old fashioned telephone from outside the room. I can still remember back to that day, when I got the call that saved me.

"Hello", I said.

�Hi, is Linda there?� a soft voice replied.

�Yes, speaking,� I said.

�Hi Linda. This is Jane from the Family Resource Center. I�m just calling to let you know that your name is next on our waitlist of applicants and I wanted to offer you immediate acceptance into our program,� said the caller excitedly.

I couldn�t even respond. The air left my lungs from the astonishment and excitement; I finally got in. My shoulders dropped in relaxation and relief, as if a two-ton barbell had been lifted off of them. Life had been hard enough being a single mother of a 2-year-old boy. I had to find places where he would be looked after while I worked to support us. I wanted to attend my local community college so I could work my way out of poverty by getting a degree, but the lack of childcare resulted in me dropping out. Being a single mother with no affordable childcare is overwhelming. At times it seems like there is no way out and that the abyss we are stuck in grows deeper by the day.

I�m wrenched back into the meeting room by the pounding of a gavel. The meeting is about to begin. I know what I have to do. I have to tell my story. As a lonesome tear runs down the side of my face, glistening in the fluorescent lighting, I realize what we are fighting for; and why giving up is not an option.

Family Resource Centers are usually created by other low-income parents who understand the dire need for affordable or free childcare, for low-and-no-income families trying to seek an education . Many poor single mothers and fathers find themselves struggling to survive because of the lack of affordable childcare available to them in this society. This lack of childcare also makes education inaccessible to poor families. This situation is just keeping the poor poor. If there were more affordable childcare and more funding for the existing family resource centers then parents would be able to support themselves and pursue higher education in colleges across the nation.

In California the situation is becoming critical. Many family resource centers are under attack and are not being adequately supported. This includes some being under funded with a few being at risk for closure or already closed. Currently, the infant and young Child Care center at Laney College in Oakland is already closed. It was closed two weeks before Spring 2006 graduation.

I have always had a fear of talking in front of people. Yet, it is my turn to speak, and I know that it is needed. The board members call me up and I give them my history as a previously homeless mother and a now low-income single mother. I tell them my dreams and my hopes after I get my degree. I have one year left at my college and now that the family resource center that provides me with childcare is closed, I don�t know what to do. I have come so far, and I refuse to be stopped here. As a low-income single parent I do what I can to help the fight to keep these places open. I talk. I tell people my story and how I could not have done what I have without the support of these organizations. The people I talk to listen to my story and I pray that they take it to heart in their decisions.

I step down from the podium and take my place in the sea of people. The sweat glistens on their foreheads from the summer night�s heat. The board calls up the next individual, and the process continues. I am not the only person who is in this predicament, but just one of the many. I feel my son�s soft hair against my neck as he bounces up and down on my lap. Looking down at him, I only can hope better for him in the future.

There is a massive action and press conference demanding that the Laney College Infant and Toddler Center be re-opened at 12:00 noon on Wednesday August 23rd in front of Laney COllege at 1220 Fallon Street. To get involved in the collaborative effort of POOR Magazine,LIFETIME, California Tomorrow, Parent Voices and Bananas Inc to save the Family Resource Centers at Community colleges state-wide call POOR at (415) 863-6306.