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Fr- -I <br />NO 92 FACE 649 <br />JUN x.41994 <br />families where both parents are employed earning minimum wage. <br />Mrs. Sparks reported that she receives requests for reduction in <br />the fee because families have just so much money. They want to <br />provide child care for their children and they need a little <br />financial assistance. Mrs. Sparks advised the Board that she has <br />been hurt in the past by the Pre -K and Headstart programs because <br />her center caters to families in this income bracket. She is in <br />favor of the proposed plan and urged the Board to bear in mind that <br />parents should have a choice in the matter of where they take their <br />children. She sympathized with families who must withdraw their <br />children from her center and place them in the Pre -K Program <br />because she has 8 children and went through the same problems. She <br />urged the Board to help these families because she cannot compete <br />with the free programs. These families need a little help to keep <br />their children in private centers, and she believed the funds <br />should be funnelled through private centers here in Indian River <br />County. She urged the Board to help these people. <br />Tracy DiBiasi, medicaid and food stamp recipient, stated that <br />if the Board does not help her and others like her, she will stay <br />on welfare the rest of her life. She urged the Board to support <br />the proposed plan which will help give her daughter a good <br />education. <br />Mary Graves, involved with child care in Wabasso through her <br />husband's company, The Children's House, stated that through her <br />conversations with Pre -K/ Intervention Coordinator Kathy Marshall <br />she learned that there are many parents who cannot be included in <br />the free program because of the strict and inflexible guidelines. <br />They may earn just $50 per week more than allowed to qualify for <br />the preschool program, but $50 per week cannot pay for child care <br />at a private center. Mrs. Graves conceded that the proposed plan <br />is expensive, but child care is expensive, and raising children is <br />expensive but not nearly as expensive as the cost of a child in the <br />juvenile justice system where those costs are multiplied 8 times. <br />Kathy Cigala, representing Junior Service League of Indian <br />River County, stated that her organization supports this plan and <br />has committed $2,000 for the proposed plan. She urged the Board to <br />support the program to get this project off the ground. Her <br />organization will do everything they can, but the plan needs the <br />Board's support. <br />50 <br />% s <br />� <br />