Child Care Aware of Eastern Washington – Community Assessment Underway to Explore the Need for Expansion of Child Care Hours

Child Care Aware of Eastern Washington – Pasco, a program of Community-Minded Enterprises (CME) is calling on community partners to help increase access to child care in the Tri-Cities area.

“Supporting quality child care is at the heart of what do here at CME’s Pasco office,” said Suzanne Suyama, Child Care Aware Supervisor – Southeast Washington. “We need the community’s help to learn more about what needs families are facing when it comes to child care.”

This project focuses on the child care needs of parents and guardians of children birth to 12 years of age. Information collected will be used to better understand the need for licensed child care during non-standard work hours, including early morning, evening and weekends. “We know there’s need” said Suyama, “we’ve heard it anecdotally for years. With concrete data, we will be able to make a case for expanded child care.”

Are you an employer and have employees having issues with finding child care? We’d like to hear from you. If you provide your information HERE, we will contact you to learn more.

Funding for this work is made possible thanks to a grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce under the Child Care Partnership Grant program. CME was one of 24 organizations identified for funding and awarded $63,470.

Community-Minded Enterprises is a 501c3 nonprofit with four offices in Spokane and one in Pasco. It was formed as a grassroots organization in the early 1990s and incorporated 1997.

Our mission is to transform communities in Washington State while advancing diversity and inclusion of marginalized populations, so that all people have an opportunity for equitable health, education, and safety.