NEW HAVEN - Giving infants and toddlers tender loving care can be an entrepreneurial opportunity that allows parents to spend time with their own children.
All Our Kin, a New Haven-based nonprofit agency, is launching a series of free workshops on how to run a successful home-based day care business starting Oct. 2 at the New Haven Public Library, from 10 a.m. to noon.
The classes will help budding family day care owners figure out how to determine tax deductions for using their home as a business and how to keep their family grocery bills separate from grocery bills for their day care clients.
All Our Kin also hopes to add a few more home-based day-care centers to the New Haven area.
"There is an incredible shortage of day care (in New Haven)," said Jessica Sager, executive director.
She said there are day-care shortages for children birth to three years old in neighborhoods including Fair Haven, Fair Haven Heights, West Rock and The
Hill.
According to a 2001 report, the number of day-care slots for children in New Haven from birth to three years old fell 2,100 short of the 3,417 needed, Sager said.
Many home-based day-care centers offer a warm, nurturing and more affordable alternative to traditional day-care centers, said Janice Gruendel, senior advisor to Gov. Jodi Rell on early childhood.
"The family-based model (of care giving) is definitely the preferable model for very young children," she said.
Family-based day-care centers also allow parents who open centers to spend time at home with their own children, Sager said.
The state limits the number of full-time children per home to six, which sharply limits the income that can be earned by family day-care providers, she said, but good business practices can increase income.
The All Our Kin workshops will cover day-care contracts and policies, effective communication with parents, marketing, records-keeping, liability insurance, business loans, grants, employment practices, and space organization for home day-care centers.
The monthly workshops will take place Oct. 2, Nov. 6, Dec. 4, Jan. 8, Feb. 6, March 5, April 2 and May 7.
Anyone who attends six of the eight workshops will receive a free book called "The Crisis Manual for Early Childhood Teachers: How to Handle the Really Difficult Problems!"
Empower New Haven, a nonprofit agency that aids low-income city neighborhoods with federal revitalization funds, helps fund All Our Kin and the workshops.
For information, call All Our Kin at 772-2294.
[1]: http://www.nhregsiter.com
[2]: http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12995097&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517515&rfi=8