Board Letter to Chairman Vicent Gray

April 23, 2007

Chairman Vincent Gray
1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Suite 504
Washington, DC 20004

Dear Chairman Gray,

CentroNía's Board of Directors would like to express its deep concern over the proposed $8.3 million in budget cuts to the Child Care Services Activity budget of the DHS Early Care and Education Administration and the DCPS Pre-K Incentive Program. These cuts will not only reduce the number of young children who participate in high-quality Pre-K programming but also have a drastic impact on the quantity and quality of professional development training offered to our city’s current and future childcare providers.

CentroNía is a 20-year old 501(c)(3) non-profit, community-based organization that provides bilingual, high quality education, professional development, and family-support services to nearly 1,500 low-income children and families in the Washington, Metropolitan area. CentroNía has been vital to the city’s effort to provide all three- and four-year old children with programming designed to ensure a seamless entry into Kindergarten. During the 2006-2007 school year, CentroNía served 64 children ages three and four in its Pre-K Incentive classrooms and an additional 300 children up to age four in its early childhood education program.

CentroNía has also played an integral role in training our city’s early childhood education providers through its DHS-funded Child Development Associate (CDA) training program. Since the program’s launch in 1999, it has supported 718 students in their preparation for obtaining CDA credentials. During the past eight years, this program has significantly improved the quality of child care offered throughout the city. It has also served as a pipeline to a career in early childhood education. Finally, the CDA program has helped hundreds of low-income men and women to improve their professional and economic prospects.

If the proposed FY 2008 budget is passed in its current form, the status of our four Universal Pre-K Incentive classrooms will be jeopardized. Thus, 64 children ages three and four could be denied the programming they need to be ready to enter Kindergarten. Furthermore, CentroNía’s funding for the CDA training program is likely to be cut altogether or significantly reduced, with the result of fewer qualified childcare providers working in our city’s childcare centers.

On behalf of our city’s children and childcare providers, we respectfully urge the Council to reject the FY 2008 budget in its current form and to reallocate the proposed $8.3 million in cuts to the programs for which the funds were originally intended.

Sincerely,

             __________________                                                                           __________________
                Joanne Williams                                                                                        Beatriz Otero
                   Board Chair                                                                                        President & CEO