By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Military families struggling to find weekend child care have a
few more options.
A federally subsidized program run by Upwards has expanded
child care for military families.
Upwards provides subsidies and even business advice to child
care providers which serve military families looking for child care during drill
weekends.
Upwards Program Director, Lilly Alexander, says military
families face difficulties in finding child care others don’t face.
“So, this program in particular is for weekend care,”
Alexander tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, when the Reserve and the Guard go
off on drills, battle assemblies, and emergency deployments weekend care is particularly
difficult to find. And we’ve been able to help child care providers expand
their hours of operation so that they can meet these specific weekend needs of
military families.”
A key to the program, according to Alexnader, is that Upwards
can guarantee reimbursement to child care providers within two business days,
rather than the 30-to-90-day lag of some reimbursement programs.
“The state of Missouri we are aware there’s a crisis going on
where providers haven’t been paid for months,” Alexander points out. “So, when
we can guarantee that we can pay providers within two business days, they are
very excited to support military families with these specific weekend child
care needs.”
Missouri state officials say a computer glitch caused the delay
in payments and that a solution is being worked out.
Not only does Upwards provide financial incentive for child
care providers to open their doors on the weekend, the company also consults
with providers on the best way to run their business, such as streamlining
processes to becomd more efficient.
“And when child care providers can operate their businesses
more efficiently, then that makes an impact on the cost for families,” Alexander
says.
Alexander encourages interested military families to visit the
Upwards website by clicking HERE.
You can also call Upwards at 816-670-3286 or email the company: heroes@upwards.com.