The Diana Karger Latino Childcare Cooperative

the problem:

The Diana Karger Latino Childcare Cooperative will give free childcare to working Latino mothers for the entire workday. We ask that meals (lunch, snacks and the occasional dinner) be prepared by a few families most co-op days. There will be fun activities including trips to the park, to the surrounding lakes and rivers, and to amusement parks. There will be many educational activities including lessons on the benefits of healthy eating, the importance of staying in school, and solutions to participation in gang violence. the key age range for co-op participation is 5 years to 12 years. we will provide care for up to 5 children younger than those ages and any over the age of 12 will be expected to help the staff in the role of junior counselor. The name is in memory of the late Diana Karger of Tucson, AZ. She left a legacy of an amazing Latino mother of 4 and countless others who showed up. there was never a child she turned away who wanted to play with her kids or just hang out in her house. truly an inspiration to me to start this co-op. Depending on the amount of money i can raise before may 25, 2008 all other details will be worked out because this will determine how much space we can afford therefore how many children we can support in the program, as well as the number and types of activities we can do. as i said, participation in the co-op will be absolutely free, no sliding scale. i feel it is a well deserved gift to the hard working Latino mothers in my community. as a second goal, using the space rented for the co-op, in the evenings we will try to teach free English lessons. Again depending on the details of space and funds, we will start only teaching families of those children participating in the co-op, then hopefully expanding into a larger demographic of the greater Durham Latino community. As it grows, it will grow into the name El Pedro Joaquín Chamorro escuela de Ingles gratis. these projects are my passion. The Latino people in my community have given me so much by means of education and community, i wish to have the opportunity to give something back.

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