Childcare services could be offered at Long Beach City Council meetings as soon as February, as the city works toward implementing a pilot program for parents who attend the Tuesday night meetings.
The program was requested by Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce, a single mother, who, in October, pledged $3,000 from her one-time district priority funds to help fund the trial program. Her funding was matched by Councilman Robert Uranga who gave from his district funds to bring the program a total of $6,000.
The city is expected to partner with the Los Angeles Education Partnership, an entity that already works in the city, to provide the services that are expected to be held in the city hall media room.
In order to secure child care services, residents or city employees would have to submit a request with the city clerk’s office 48 hours prior to the meeting. The services will be provided for children ranging from 2-13 years old. However, for services to be provided at least three children must be registered to receive services prior to the meeting.
According to a city memo released earlier this month the ratio for child care would be one-to-one for children two years old or those with special needs and 4:1 for children 3-13 years of age.
Playtime activities and homework assistance would be part of the services offered under the pilot program however, feedings and diaper changes would not be offered. Parents would not be allowed to leave the building without their children.
The LA Education Partnership has estimated that it could provide services for about 17 meetings under the current funding limits assuming that 10 children per meeting are enrolled and each meeting lasts 3.5 hours.
However, the length of the pilot period available funds could fluctuate if the number of parents requesting services exceeds 10 or if the council meetings run long.
The latter was the subject of a request by the City Council in 2018 as it sought to rein in the length of council meetings, some of which lasted as long as nine hours. In 2018 the average meeting time was about 4.5 hours.
An ordinance approved this year shortened public comment time and implemented other streamlining measures to shorten meetings, but a majority of the meetings in 2019 exceeded 3.5 hours in length with many running six or seven hours long.
The city says it’s expecting to complete a contract with the partnership and could start providing childcare services starting with the council’s February meetings.