Mayor Keller Announces City Childcare for Essential Workers, Issues Third Public Health Emergency Declaration

April 10, 2020

Mayor Tim Keller and the City’s Family and Community Services Department announced a program today to provide free childcare services to essential workers who need help for their kids aged 3-5. The service is an expansion on existing emergency childcare programming being offered for school-age children at community centers around town. 

The City, working with paid volunteer teachers, will open Herman Sanchez Child Development Center beginning on Monday, April 13. Parents who qualify as essential workers can call 767-6504 to register their children at no cost.

“With schools and daycares closed, frontline workers are caught between a rock and a hard place. We are counting on these folks to keep our community running—they can continue to count on us to provide critical childcare services,” said Mayor Tim Keller.

Each classroom will be limited to no more than five children and four teachers, and additional safety precautions, including eliminating group meals, staggering drop-off and pickup, and meeting families at the door to limit the number of people in-and-out of the center will be taken to ensure the highest possible level of health.

Family and Community Services will continuously gauge the demand and open additional child development centers as the need grows.

Mayor Keller also announced a third public health emergency declaration, effective immediately, that adds to the measures already taken to encourage people to stay home, keep the City running, and support the local economy.

This declaration extends City event and gathering cancelation through May 15; formalizes virtual meetings for Boards and Commissions; requires grocery stores to take extra steps to ensure the safety of their workers and customers; accelerates timelines for construction projects to prop up the local economy; and closes a loophole non-essential businesses were attempting to use to stay open in spite of the public health risk.

The declaration can be found here: COA Public Health Emergency Declaration 04102020

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