Southern Connecticut State University is earning national attention for its support of student-parents, thanks to a recent feature by The Hechinger Report and The Boston Globe. The story highlights Southern student Cai-Lonni Haywood, a Navy veteran and mother who returned to college with the help of Southern’s drop-in child care center — made possible through a federal CCAMPIS grant.
The Child Care Access Means Parents in School (CCAMPIS) program funds campus-based child care for low-income student-parents. At Southern, it has allowed parenting students like Haywood to continue their education while balancing work and family responsibilities.
“I am two semesters away from graduating, which I never thought I would be able to do having a baby and deciding I wanted to go back to school,” said Haywood, a social work major. “If Southern didn’t have this child care program, I wouldn’t be able to do it.”
The university currently supports more than 60 parenting students each semester through the center, which serves children from infancy to age 12. Michele Vancour, executive director of healthcare programs, who directs the child care initiative, said the CCAMPIS grant has helped Southern meet a vital need.
“We realized that we were always supporting parenting students, but the level of our support just was not enough,” Vancour said. “Opening the center was a great opportunity for us to demonstrate that there was a significant need and to find ways to make this part of the fabric of who we are.”
The future of CCAMPIS is now uncertain, as proposed federal budget cuts could eliminate the program. Still, advocates hope bipartisan support in Congress will preserve — and even expand — this essential resource.
Read the full story in The Boston Globe: Student-parents face uncertain future as federal child care program wanes
