WCK April Newsletter 2023

As the new Executive Director of WCK, I have really enjoyed meeting many volunteers and out of school providers.  I recently attended the Vision Action Network Thrives event which included OST providers and nonprofit leaders.  It was especially nice to be representing WCK in person instead of on a screen and I look forward to more in-person events.  Insert a shameless plug here to save the date for our in person annual fundraiser on August 3, 2023!  This one event last year, featuring a fabulous silent auction, helped fund over 1/3 of our annual budget thanks to many wonderful donors. We are excited again to connect with our enthusiastic supporters on a summer evening sipping wine and celebrating the successes of the past year!

We are very excited to welcome a distinguished new board member – Narce Rodriguez.  Welcome Narce!                           Larry Crepeaux – larry@washingtoncountykids.org

Our newest board member, Narce Rodriguez, recently retired from Pacific University as their Vice President for Student Affairs and Chief of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. She has been a practitioner/consultant and community leader for the last 25 years. She previously worked at Portland Community College, Portland State University, and Oregon State University. Throughout her professional career, her vision of EDI allowed her to educate, develop systems, and challenge policies to reflect the needs of their ongoing diverse populations.  She has offered numerous EDI training to support structures not only in Education but also in corporate and governmental organizations. Narce is also an elected official for the Forest Grove School District and has served on many Washington County boards, more recently for Centro Cultural, Latino Policy Council, Vision Action Network, and Adelante Mujeres.  In addition, she is a former migrant worker, 1st Generation college graduate, a mom, grandmother, sister, and wife of a disabled military veteran.

WCK President, Katie Riley, shares legislative updates:

We are working very hard to increase access to out-of-school-time (OST) programs for children and youth.  In addition to the legislative updates below, we are also developing proposals to seek government grants that would train eligible youth to work for care providers during the summer.  More staff means more youth can be served as all businesses are struggling to fill available positions.

The Oregon State Legislature has been slow to progress on two bills related to after-school and summer care, but we are hopeful something will happen before the end of the session in June.

SB 531 | General Funding to the Dept. of Ed. for summer and afterschool programs  
Would provide $30-50 million for summer and after-school care and is currently in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.  The committee will not make any decisions on funding until after the May 17th Revenue Forecast.  Any funds allocated would not come to providers until after July 1st which is late for most as summer planning generally starts in January.

Background:  In 2022, WCK served as a fiscal agent for grant proceeds which funded over 430 kids’ after-school experience.  We hope to do the same this summer and are monitoring developments closely so we can react quickly in the hopes to serve as many kids as possible this summer!

SB 858 | Children’s Service Districts
This would allow citizens to collect signatures to place a property tax initiative on local ballots and is currently in the Senate Finance and Revenue Committee.  The chair of the committee, Senator Mark Meek, has not scheduled a work session on the bill which is the only way it has a chance to be considered by the full Senate.

Background:  This bill would allow citizens to vote on providing sustainable funding for children’s services not currently available.  Funding for after-school and summer programs is extremely limited—the county does not provide any funds, the state only provides a small amount (as seen from SB 531 and some funds from the Student Success Act), and the only federal source is 21st Century grants which are awarded to very few sites.

2023 SPEAKER SERIES: FOR PARENTS
Our live events have now concluded but you can still enjoy the recorded presentations designed to provide useful information and tools for parents of children k-12!

Did you know that we provide Out-of-School Provider Training?  In fact, attendees have received over 100 hours of career credits in just the last 15 months!

Please save the date for our next session:
Friday, September 8, 2023 | 10 am to 12 pm
Subject: De-escalating Negative Behavior