Grant offers child care help to classified employees

For many years, Holly Johnson worked as a stay-at-home mom: cooking, cleaning and caring for her four children. But after more than two decades of being the main source of child care, she was forced to return to the work force as a single parent.

“I was a stay-at-home mom for 23 years, and it was great,” Johnson says. “But single moms really don’t have that option.”

In addition to the challenge of starting her new job as a University Housing program assistant, Johnson also faced the daunting task of finding affordable, quality child care. For a number of years, she relied on private care for her youngest son. In 2005 she switched to a YMCA program, which “was a great program,” she says, but was also “very expensive.”

The program cost $500 a month per child, almost a quarter of Johnson’s monthly income, and a significant drain on her family’s resources. In 2005, Johnson received a $500 Classified Staff Child Care Grant from the Office of Child Care and Family Resources (OCCFR).

Although the grant took care of only a small portion of her overall costs, it still “made a big difference,” she says.

Since 2003, the OCCFR has given Johnson’s family and 15 other families the gift of a month without worrying about child care costs. This year, OCCFR plans to give away four $500 grants to permanent classified university employees who have children under age 12 in regulated child care (center or individual).

Connie Wilson, assistant dean of students emerita, founded the scholarship in 2003 when she saw how many of the university’s classified staff struggled with increasing child care costs.

“Classified staff keep UW–Madison running through millions of daily tasks and various encounters with students, staff and faculty,” says Wilson, who now volunteers in support of campus child care. “For our campus to be truly welcoming, it is essential for the classified staff to be well supported in the important work they do.”

According to the OCCF, classified staff members ranked child care costs as their second largest concern. On average, Dane County infant care costs $11,000 a year, while preschool-aged care is about $9,000 a year.

For Susan Golz, a nurse at UW Hospital and Clinics and 2003 recipient of the scholarship, getting quality child care on a limited budget was a challenge.

“As a single mom, I have to trust other people in my community to help raise my children,” Golz says. “This award was one way for me to realize that other people who don’t even know me care about my kids and their future, and it was greatly appreciated.”

Golz was originally hesitant to apply for the scholarship because she worked full time and had older children. But after receiving the scholarship and realizing what a difference it made, she encourages others to apply, no matter what their family composition or financial need.

“It’s OK to ask for a little help,” Golz says. “Everybody wins when we support each other.”

Applications are due by Wednesday, Nov. 1, and the recipients will be announced in December. Applications are available at http://www.housing.wisc.edu/OCCFR or in the OCCFR office.

For more information, contact Lynn Edlefson at 262-9715 or lynn.edlefson@housing.wisc.edu.

The OCCFR is also accepting donations for the Classified Staff Child Care Grant. For more information, contact Edlefson or visit the OCCFR Web site.