NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Last summer, Derrika Richard felt stuck. She didn’t have enough money to afford child care for her three youngest children, ages 1, 2 and 3. Yet the demands of caring for them on a daily basis made it impossible for Richard, a hairstylist, to work. One child care assistance program rejected her because she wasn’t working enough. It felt like an unsolvable quandary: Without care, she couldn’t work. And without work, she couldn’t afford care. But Richard’s life changed in the fall, when, thanks to a new city-funded program for low-income families called City Seats, she enrolled the three children at Clara’s Little Lambs, a child care center in the Westbank neighborhood of New Orleans. For the first time, she’s earning enough to pay her bills and afford online classes. “It actually paved the way for me to go to school,” Richard said one morning this spring, after walking the three children to their classrooms. City Seats, she said, “changed my life.” |
Body language expert reveals the one thing keeping Queen Mary and King Frederik togetherAfter Roe, an 'underground' network helps others get abortionsSwiatek unlocks Keys to reach Rome semisScottie Scheffler confirms birth of baby son in heartfelt Instagram postWhat WERE the hidden meanings in Meghan's Nigerian wardrobe and which ones did YOU miss?Antiques Roadshow guest is left stunned at his 'over the top' belt buckle's shocking real priceI am a Cher superfanEDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Sarah Ferguson is in the pink with traditional German wedding frockPrince Harry and Meghan Markle hint there are more quasiRory McIlroy insists he is 'way better' than his last Major win in 2014