The children of our neighborhood have been part of our life ever since Sojourners Fellowship came to Washington, D.C., in August, 1975. Many of our first friends in the city were children. Having arrived in D.C. with two children of my own, ages 10 weeks and 12 months, I spent much of my time with them, while observing and meeting other mothers in the neighborhood.
As our fellowship's involvement in the neighborhood grew, and some members began tutoring older children who were failing in school, I wondered about the preparation these children had received prior to kindergarten. And through relationships with other parents, we gradually realized the problem of finding affordable childcare in the area. In an attempt to respond to this need, we began a small pilot childcare program in one of our households in the fall of 1976.
The eight children in the program included my two children, three preschoolers from a family who were living with us temporarily after having been evicted from their apartment, and three children who lived in a boarding house down the street. Through the struggles and successes of that small program, we as a community began to be actively involved in the issue of childcare for our neighbors.
Then in the fall of 1977, with very limited resources, Sojourners Daycare Center opened in the basement of Clifton Terrace Apartments, a low-income housing complex in our Columbia Heights neighborhood. The space in which the center is located once housed a government-run center, but due to mismanagement of funds the center was forced to close, and the space had remained empty for more than three years.
We began with 15 children and four staff members, who worked most of the time on a volunteer basis. The objective of the program was to provide all-day childcare and school readiness at an affordable cost to the working-class poor of this neighborhood. Single parents working at minimum wage or on-the-job training programs were unable to afford the cost of childcare in D.C, and government-subsidized programs did not meet the demand for such services. We charged a tuition rate of $15 per week per child for all-day care, including lunch and two snacks.
During the past three years, we have continued to expand both the scope of the program and the number of families served and have hired staff from the neighborhood to work with the original teachers from Sojourners and myself as director.
In the spring and summer of 1980, those of us involved in local ministries re-evaluated the scope and vision of our work in the neighborhood, including the day-care center. We realized that we did not have the resources to maintain all the growing ministries we had begun and that it wasn't in the best interests of the neighborhood for us to be the initiators and maintainers of programs. We came to see that our role had to be one of enabling our neighbors to take on the concerns they thought important.
In the daycare center our dilemma was that while there continued to be a vital need to use fully the space for a larger childcare program, we did not have the resources to do so; it was important that our neighbors take a strong role in the development and future of the center. The need was clear to move the center from being small and church-run to being a larger neighborhood-run center of which we would be a part. Until then, Sojourners Fellowship had provided more than half the center's financial support. As the center expanded, that support had grown beyond what the resources of one small church could sustain.
At a parents' meeting last summer, just as I had finished explaining some proposals for the future of the daycare center, one parent jumped into the conversation: "All I know is that I brought my oldest child here when she was three, and now that she is about to enter kindergarten she can write her name, she knows her colors, and she is doing well in school. Last fall my younger son began, and now he can tell me colors, is more well-mannered, and begs to go to school, even on weekends. Three years ago there was nothing here. Now the children of this neighborhood have a daycare center so that parents can work and children can be prepared for school. Whatever we have to do to keep this center going, I'll help with it." That parent is now a member of our newly formed board of directors.
In July, 1980, we brought together this board of directors to be concerned with the primary decision-making for the center. Those of us from Sojourners Fellowship were no longer the primary governing body of the center but were working with a larger neighborhood group to determine its future. The board includes four neighborhood leaders (a lawyer, a housing organizer, a child psychologist, and a former daycare director), four parents, and four members of Sojourners Fellowship. On October 1, 1980, the center was incorporated as a non-profit institution independent of Sojourners. To signify the change, the name of the center became "Sojourner Truth Child Development Center."
Choosing the new name was, in itself, quite a task. Those of us on the board who are from Sojourners felt that the new name should reflect the neighborhood and the fact that the center was independent. To the parents and neighborhood leaders, however, "Sojourners" was the name of the center, and they wanted to keep it. After several months of discussion we agreed on the new name, which retained the "Sojourner" but reflected the independence and pride of a great black woman.
The by-laws of the new organization set out four purposes:
• To provide affordable all-day childcare for low-income parents who live in the Columbia Heights neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
• To provide a school-readiness program so that children will be prepared, both cognitively and socially, for a successful school experience.
• Where possible, to provide job training for unskilled and/or unemployed people from this area of the city.
• To provide opportunities for participation and leadership in the center by parents and other interested individuals in the neighborhood.
Our program seeks to meet the goals of the by-laws. We have three classrooms with 35 children enrolled. The youngest classroom of children, ages 2 l/2 to 3 years, has a head teacher and an aide. The 3-year-old classroom has both a head and an assistant teacher. The pre-kindergarten class has one head teacher.
The head teachers are responsible for curricular goals and implementation, and work with the aides and assistant teachers to help them develop skills leading to a credential in child development. In May, 1981, we plan to open another classroom for 2-year-olds which will be staffed by a teacher and an aide. This will bring us to our full capacity of 43 children.
The oldest classroom is a pre-kindergarten class which focuses on very specific cognitive, affective, and social skills to make the transition to public school as easy as possible. The younger classrooms work on self-help skills, language development, specific fine-and gross-motor skills, perceptual skills, and the development of a healthy self-concept appropriate for that age level.
There is some time in each day for the children of all ages to be together so that older-younger relationships can be encouraged. We have provided some testing in speech, hearing, and motor development through local universities, hospitals, and government programs.
The center holds a potluck dinner with all the families we serve three times each year: at Christmas, in the spring, and in August. At the Christmas dinner the children put on a program, and the "graduation" dinner at the end of August honors those children who will be going to kindergarten in the fall. The graduation is complete with caps and gowns made by the parents.
The daycare center's transition from a small ministry run by Sojourners Fellowship to a larger, neighborhood center has been long and time-consuming, but it is happening. For the first two and a half years, the vision for the center was carried by those of us from the fellowship. Now drawing others into taking over that vision and shaping it for themselves is difficult. However, as we look back on the last six months, we can see that some movement is being made and that the neighborhood is beginning to take responsibility for the future of the center.
We have been trying to get a strong parent group going for the past year with limited success. Then last week during a particularly discouraging day, a parent came to me and said, "We need to get parents more involved. I have decided that I can commit myself to heading up a group of parents who will be responsible for getting equipment and supplies we need donated to the center. If you can find four other people who will work with me, I will pull them together, and we can get some things done." He also has volunteered to serve on the board, if needed. And once again, that afternoon I began to see some light at the end of the tunnel.
We have recently sent out proposals to several D.C.-based foundations for initial funding to hire an indigenous director and to bring the teachers' salaries up to competitive standards. At that point, I will move onto the board and work at trying to build a strong local network of financial support through churches, businesses, and individuals so that we can continue to provide subsidized childcare to the working poor of this city.
Subsidized childcare is a crucial educational and economic concern in the struggle for empowerment of the poor. Without it, children will continue to do poorly in school and will eventually drop out, joining the ranks of the unskilled and unemployed. Without it, parents who could be working will be forced back onto the welfare rolls.
Meanwhile, the task of many church and neighborhood organizations who are working to promote subsidized childcare is growing increasingly difficult as the government cuts back even the limited funding it has provided in the past few years. In the face of this hard and unjust situation, we at Sojourner Truth Child Development Center hope that we can continue both to build up and draw on the strength that comes when people pull together to meet a common need. The care and development of our children is surely a priority.
Barb Tamialis was a member of Sojourners Fellowship and the director of the Sojourner Truth Child Development Center when this article appeared.
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