Box 8, Folder 18, Document 16

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Box 8, Folder 18, Document 16

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Southside proposal - 1

I. Preamole

This proposal for a nursery program of day care and child develop-
ment satieiliee is submitted to the Model Cities Program for consideration
of its merits for funding under 1969 appropriations.

Southside Day Care Association has found it necessary to request emer-
gency funding for this phase of its program because of three recent devel-
opments:

1. Southside has recently acquired the use of the school building pre-
viously occupied by Pryor Street Elementary School. This facility is not
only more substantial and more adequate for an effective day program, it.
also increases the capacity of the center from ninety-one (91) to over 135
children.

2. Within weeks of Southside's move into its new facilities, the fund-
ing agency of its program initiated policies which 1) phased out all servi-
ces to children under two years of age, and 2) proportionately reduced en=
rollment quotas of all delegate agencies operating day care centers; South-
side's quota was cut from ninety-one (91) to eighty (80) children. Thus,
instead of being able to expand its services to needy families, Southside
has had to reduce the number of children to more than fifty below its
capacity.

3. In the two months Southside has occupied its new location, it has
had to refuse child care to more than sixty children from families that
qualify for its services under the E, 0. A. poverty guidelines that govern
admission policies. In most instances, these were children of mothers who
were seeking child care in order to be able to atcept jobs and raise their

living stendards above welfare subsistance levels.
Southside proposal - 2

The proposal outlined in this document will maximize the use of South-
side's facilities. The center will be able to care for fifty-two additional
children of mothers needing its services in order to work and improve the
economic and personal wellbeing of family. The salaries these mothers earn.
even at minimum wage levels, will return over $100,000.00 into the economy
of the inner-city.

The public schools will be open shortly. Surveys have shown that 80%
of the absenteeism in the schools results Pro older children having to stay
home and care for the little ones while mother works. Southside's preschool
and nursery programs are presently operational. The new openings for day
care services this proposal makes possible would be available in a matter
of weeks.

This proposal for the nursery program at Southside, if funded, will
make it possible for Southside to continue to serve the needs of mothers
with an infant as well as an older preschool child needing care; these
mothers~-the ones with the most children--are usually the ones who need day
care the most. There is no other major center offering quality day care
services, operating or proposed, within miles of Southside that offers day
care services to mothers of ehdidven from infants to school age. Without
funding, these mothers will have no day care services available that will
release them. for gainful employment.

In addition to recently acquiring more suitable and spacious facilities,
Southside has entered upon a joint venture of cooperation with the School of
Education at Georgia State College for the purpose of developing the center
into an experimental laboratory for the College's students in early child-
hood education. The coupling of the professional’ resources of a major school

of education with Southside's four years of continuous experience in educa-
Southside proposal = 3

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tional day care has important implications: major research findings indicate
that educational stimulation during early childhood is the most promising
antidote to educational deprivation brought on by the conditions of poverty.
Beane also indicates the importance of continuing the nursery program at
Southside as a part of this project; it suggests that more than 50% of the
intellectual potentials of the adult is determined by the kinds of learning
experiences he had before he was two years old.

In view of the foregoing facts, the eaneore of Southside Child Develop-
ment Center suggest that no public funds expended can benefit so many, so
directly, so quickly, or so meaningfully, as funds invested in its plans
for the nursery program outlined in this proposal. No money spent at this
time has any greater promise of finding answers to the burden of poverty to-

day, and to its alleviation tomorrow.

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