RIVER VALLEY and OZARK AREA — The economic downturn has caught Conway Cradle Care between a rock and a hard place.
The agency's investments have shrunk by more than half - with a resulting income drop - even as the need for services to teen parents and their babies is rising, Director Diana Byrd said.
Conway Cradle Care provides reduced-cost day care for teen parents who are attending school, along with parenting classes and mentors.
The organization has dipped into its principal for the past two years as funding has decreased, she said. Its primary supporter reduced this year's funding by a third, and several hoped-for grants have not been forthcoming.
Byrd said there has been a misconception,she believes, about a large grant the organization received last year from AT&T.
It was to fund putting mentors in the Vilonia and Mayflower school districts, she said.
"We're continuing on with those, but that grant just covered that part of the program, not the day care. The day care is the expensive part. Those funds can't be funneled into the day care," she said.
"Our clients are teen parents, so it's very hard - a lot of their parents, not all of them, are low-income parents," Byrd said.
Many of them can't afford outside day care, she said.
Meanwhile, Conway Cradle Care's facility at First Presbyterian Church, adjacent to the Conway High School-West, needs upgrades, Byrd said. Worn-out playground equipment has already been removed, but replacement isn't in the budget.
Byrd said last year, 65 high school students were served, whether by using the day care itself, meeting with mentors or taking parenting classes.
This year, there are eight children in the day care so far, but another three mothers are waiting their six weeks to return to school; a total of 16 others are pregnant in the Conway, Mayflower and Vilonia school districts, Byrd said.
There are usually 20 children in the day care at a time, ages 6 weeks to 3 years. This year, to make room for all the infants who will be coming, the day care will not have a room for 3-year-olds.
Primarily juniors and seniors use the day care, but "we mentor a lot of expectant parents on the 9-10 campus," Byrd said. "The youngest one [pregnant mother] we had was in eighth grade."
Robbie and Nikki Martinez, who became parents in February 2007, graduated from Conway High School that May and married in March 2008.
They probably would have finished high school without Cradle Care, but it would have been difficult, Nikki said.
"We'd have found some other way," Nikki said. "But it made things a lot easier."
Robbie said, "We realize how much help it was, not just because it was cheap but because it was convenient," Robbie said.
The two met in 10th grade. They discovered Nikki was pregnant the summer before senior year. When Nikki reported her condition to the school nurse, she was introduced to Kim Barton, Conway Cradle Care mentor.
"Miss Kim helped me fill out a scholarship for Hayden," Nikki said. "From the time I was six months pregnant, I already knew that Hayden was going to be there."
The couple attended Conway Cradle Care's twice-monthly luncheons to hear speakers on pregnancy and child care-related topics.
When Hayden was born, he not only had a place to stay, but his parents were already acquiring necessary parenting skills.
"I loved attending the parenting classes," Nikki said.
Robbie added: "I realized that, at 17, I didn't know anything and I could learn from other people."
Without Cradle Care, Robbie and Nikki said they would have had to seek other child care options that undoubtedly would have put a crimp in their budget - and would have been less convenient.
"The great thing about Cradle Care is that I could still breastfeed," Nikki said.
The couple are living with Robbie's parents while they attend University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton. After completing their associate degrees, they plan to enter University of Central Arkansas, where Robbie, who is employed by Center Point Energy, will major in business and Nikki, in psychology. The two hope to move into a place of their own next year.
Byrd said, "We tell people the program is designed to help people who have already made that decision and who have had a child, but we realize part of our role is to talk about prevention. The key is to keep them in school."
More information about Conway Cradle Care is available by calling 730-0017, or by e-mailing Byrd a t conwaycradlecare@yahoo.com.
River Valley Ozark, Pages 59, 60 on 08/27/2009