DATE: Monday, October 20, 1997 TAG: 9710200071 SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, STAFF WRITER DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 73 lines
Tiffany Bryant and a half-dozen other perky toddlers were perched in boxy seats at a table in the William A. Hunton YMCA playroom one recent afternoon.
Diminutive fingers deftly picked up cheesy cracker stars, and her tiny mouth nibbled away.
Tiffany is only 16 months old. But already, she's honing her fine motor skills in preparation for school.
And thanks to the grant-funded program that provides free care for Tiffany at the Hunton Y, her 27-year-old mom, Veda Bryant, is refining her own skills so she can get off welfare once and for all.
Tiffany is one of 12 toddlers picked for the project that helps their mothers leave welfare. The Hunton received $191,000 from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development as start-up funding for the program, unique to the area. Fifty 1- and 2-year-olds olds are on a waiting list, and child-care services director Phyllis Thames hopes to get more funds to continue and expand the all-day care and learning effort.
Without the program, Tiffany's mother wouldn't be able to gain the skills that eventually will enable her to support her three young children.
The single mother lives in Tidewater Gardens, one of the city's public housing neighborhoods. She attends Tidewater Community College full time and hopes for a career as a dental assistant. She volunteers time to the city's health department to get job experience.
Before Tiffany's birth, Veda Bryant worked intermittently and had to depend on welfare payments when she couldn't find work as a telemarketer.
The clock on Bryant's two-year welfare limit started ticking this month. She receives $291 in monthly payments.
``I have to do it for myself,'' she says with a proud smile. ``Can't count on family members.''
Thames, the program director, explains that with private, weekly day-care costs ranging between $100 and $175, there's just no way a mother like Bryant could rise to the challenge of welfare reform without the kind of help she's getting at the Hunton.
``It enables us to reach parents we couldn't otherwise reach,'' said Thames.
The YMCA's care programs for older, school-aged children costs about $85 a week. Parents, 40 percent of whom live in Tidewater Gardens, pay $40, and financial support from the United Way of South Hampton Roads take care of the balance.
Last year, the Hunton received $165,341 from the United Way.
The United Way's annual campaign, now under way, has reached $7,469,372 - nearly half of its $15.5 million goal for this year.
The Hunton is one of 68 local agencies that the United Way assists.
In all, the Hunton's child-care programs render services to 200 children.
Of the new toddler program, Don Stevens, director of resource development and public relations for the Hunton Y, says, ``There's not another program like it in the area. It's cutting edge - not just baby-sitting.''
The idea is to get the little ones involved in the YMCA child-care continuum when they are most impressionable, explains Stevens. Later, should problems arise as the children participate in care programs for older, school-age kids, caregivers can draw on years of experience to get them back on track. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot
Don Stevens is director of resource development and public relations
for the Hunton YMCA, which provides free child care to parents
working to leave the welfare rolls. ``It's cutting edge - not just
baby-sitting.''
Don Stevens is director of resource development and public relations
for the Hunton YMCA, which provides free child care to parents
working to leave the welfare rolls. ``It's cutting edge - not just
baby-sitting.'' KEYWORDS: UNITED WAY WELFARE REFORM
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