New childcare facilities opened this semester on NW and South campuses.
TCC partnered with Child Care Associates, one of the largest nonprofit child development organizations in Texas, to give students, staff and faculty access to affordable and local childcare.
“Any student who has a child that is looking for childcare, whether it’s drop-in, part-time, full-time, whatever it is that their need may be, they can come to us, and we can help them out,” NW studio director Maria Montas said.
Although both studios are already open, ribbon-cutting ceremonies will be held at both centers to invite the community to tour the facilities and learn more about what Child Care Associates offers. According to Montas, several local government officials and Chancellor Elva LeBlanc will be in attendance. The NW Child Care Studios will have its ceremony at 9 a.m. Sept. 4 while South will host its ceremony Sept. 11.
The NW Child Care Studios is a “U-shaped” building with an array of classrooms for different ages, an industrial kitchen and a backyard.
The backyard features a tricycle racetrack, a mini garden for the children to learn how to grow plants and even a mud kitchen for sensory play. Montas said the architecture and decor of the studio was designed to not overstimulate but to provide children with a visually safe space for them to explore and learn.
The studio gets fresh food delivered from local farmers markets to cook in the kitchen. The kitchen staff create a “weekly menu” with snacks and meals like chicken Alfredo, French toast sticks, quinoa bakes and more.
“Twice a month, we have fresh fruit and vegetables that are delivered to us, like crates, so parents can bag up as much as they want and take that with them,” Montas said. “It’s all about supporting the family unit because at the end of the day, the idea is that our children can become self-reliant and meet their goals but also their parents too.”
According to the American Council on Education, approximately one in five U.S. undergraduates are chasing an education while raising a kid or dependent.
The Hope Center, a nonprofit organization focused on fighting income inequality, released a 2020 report that states “parenting students are more likely to face increased time and financial demands, including childcare costs.” The report also said 88% of single mothers in college live below the poverty line.
Child Care Associates, with the government-funded Head Start program, provides resources to single parents and struggling families to ease their financial stress and prepare children for public school. Depending on the applicant’s income, childcare costs could be heavily reduced or even free.
“I’ve seen parents pay as low as $6.45 a week for five days of full-time childcare,” Montas said. “So it’s worth filling out because the worst they can do is say no, right?”
Jocelyn Soto, NW CCA’s family engagement advocate and TCC graduate, handles the Early Head Start program applications. Her job is to check if families are eligible based on their income.
“Our whole purpose of this is for them to be prepared whenever they go to district, so they would be more advanced than the average child who wasn’t in this program,” she said. “Even though I do the admissions enrollments or all the paperwork, I still connect to the family. … If they want to have somebody they can talk to, I would be the person.”
Two Head Start teachers in the 3- and 4-year-old classroom grew up in the program themselves. They said they enrolled their own children in Head Start in the past.
“I learned to tie my shoes in Head Start,” teacher Angela Freeman said. “You can also see the growth in the children, you know, especially with their social and emotional development. Some of them come in not knowing their alphabets and their numbers, or even how to write. Or they’re still in pull-ups, and we’re here teaching them and training them. So when they get ready to leave, they’re like little social butterflies.”
CCA’s “child-led learning” approach to education means that they try to meet the children, their families and their teachers where they are.
“I’m here for a reason, and I have the experience of not only being a teacher but being a Head Start kid and a Head Start mom too,” teacher Maria Cervantes said.
She said she uses her experience to better connect with the parents she works with because she has an idea of the things they worry about and need.
For student-parents who may not have a quiet space to study or who maybe be nervous about the idea of childcare, the studio offers an in-facility study room and an app for guardians to directly message their child’s teacher.
Montas said she plans on involving the campus in the studio as well. The studio and the NW horticulture department have finalized collaboration plans to teach the older children how to garden. Students in the early education program can get their lab hours at the studio through observation. Montas said she’d be interested in involving the culinary program in the studio kitchen in the future.
“We all drive here in the morning with smiles on our faces because people have been knocking on our door, wanting to come in and tour and see the building, and then also see who’s working here and kind of what we’re all about,” Montas said. “So it’s definitely been a blessing.”
