Finding and keeping a job can be an impossible task for families who have lost their shelter. Families without stable housing typically struggle to access child care, but a new partnership between CCRC and Hope the Mission provides unhoused families with onsite child care.
The joint effort comes after extensive information gathering by CCRC Early Care and Learning staff, as well as research conducted in part by CCRC, that found families without shelter and child care faced difficulty in finding employment.
According to 2023 figures, about 4,000 children experienced homelessness in LA. But that number doesn’t necessarily give the full picture of children with unstable shelter. By supporting families with shelter and child care, we can empower them to find and secure employment that sustains their family long term.
Hope the Mission is a nonprofit that’s mission is to prevent, reduce and eliminate poverty, hunger and homelessness by offering immediate assistance and long-term solutions. Next to the organization’s Tarzana shelter on Ventura Boulevard, renovations are underway on the future child care site. Where a Denny’s restaurant once stood, The Woodlands will serve as a community child care center for unhoused families.
“Being onsite at the Woodlands and being able to offer those child care services is really critical for parents getting back on their feet and becoming stabilized to find their housing, just knowing they have that peace of mind that their child is in a safe place while they get back on their feet is really reassuring,” said CCRC Early Care and Learning Assistant Director Nadia Krupansky.
Hope the Mission is funding the renovations, which include one infant toddler room for nine children and one preschool room for sixteen children.
The renovations should be complete by this fall, and we expect to have the center licensed and operational by December 2024 or January 2025.
“The Woodlands can serve up to 100 families and all those families may have children,” said Krupansky. “They do have the busing for kids that go to public school but there’s still a need for children 0-5 so that’s why this service is so critical.”
The Head Start and Early Head Start spaces are already designated for this center. We applied in May 2024 for an HS and EHS expansion to add a two-classroom modular at the Woodlands. CCRC also plans to expand into the Sierras Lancaster site with a two-classroom modular.
“We also have our comprehensive services, which include audio and vision screenings, developmental screenings, and of course the educational component,” Krupansky explained. “Our goal is to enroll these families, help them become stabilized, give them a place where their children are safe, then help them transition to another early care and learning center.”
If we are awarded the grant, this project has an estimated two-year timeline from application to opening the new modular classrooms.
