City Of Sacramento Giving Free Child Care To First Responders Amid Coronavirus Crisis

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – The City of Sacramento announced today that they will provide free child care to all first responders during the coronavirus outbreak.

Beginning on Monday, the city said 350 childcare slots for children ages 5-12 will available at eight community centers throughout the city, with more likely coming in the future if demand is high.

Workers looking to be qualified will be required to present identification showing they fall into one of the following categories within the city of Sacramento: first responders, front-line health care workers who work in the city; and essential City of Sacramento employees.

The free Essential Worker Childcare program will be administered by the Youth, Parks & Community Enrichment Department. One caregiver will be assigned to every 10 children and the centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Each caregiver will be licensed and will have gone through a background check.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Councilwoman Angelique Ashby made the announcement Friday saying the move will make the essential employees' lives easier and help them focus on their jobs.

"One of the issues that was identified very early in this crisis...was what are we going to do for our kids?" the mayor said in a press conference on Friday.

The eight centers that will be open will only be available for use for the children and the rest of the public will have no access to them. The city said that qualified parents with children under 5 will be referred to the YMCA, which has 60 paid slots available.

Community centers that will offer childcare include Sam Pannell, Belle Cooledge, George Sim, Oak Park, Coloma, Hart, Joe Mims Jr., Hagginwood and South Natomas.