Long Beach City College and Boys & Girls Clubs open free afterschool program for student parents

Long Beach City College has teamed up with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach to offer free afterschool care for the children of its students. The program, called "Viking Clubhouse," was announced by the college on Thursday, Dec. 15.

The idea grew out of conversations between LBCC officials and students who are parents of school-age children. According to a recent press release, those students described how hard it was to attend evening classes, counseling appointments and study sessions while also searching for affordable, high-quality childcare. The college and the Boys & Girls Clubs launched the program this semester to address that problem.

Viking Clubhouse operates on LBCC's Liberal Arts Campus. Students can drop off their children from 2 to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. Program coordinator Amy Huynh said the children receive help with homework, a snack and a hot meal, along with an enrichment activity such as art, music or movie making.

College and Boys & Girls Clubs officials held a celebration on Thursday evening, joined by parents and children who have used the program. Don Rodriguez, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach, said his organization has long worked to help young people finish high school and become the first in their families to attend college. "But now we're also able to help the parents to finish up and get their degrees," he said. "This has just been an amazing dream come true for our organization."

Suaya Montoya is one of the student parents who has used the service. She first enrolled at LBCC in 2014 as a parent of three and a widow; her husband died of a heart attack. Montoya said she faced many of the obstacles single parents encounter when returning to school, and that she wants a career in childhood development.

This semester, she said, the clubhouse let her drop her children off in the evening and concentrate on her classes, knowing they were in a safe and enriching setting on campus. "I never knew that it was possible for me with three children to be able to come back to school and begin or finish any level of training if I didn't have childcare available to me," she said. She described the support she has felt this semester as the most overwhelmingly positive experience she has had.

LBCC Superintendent-President Mike Muñoz said the program relies on an innovative funding arrangement. It draws on grants and resources available to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach that the college cannot access, and on afterschool money from the Long Beach Unified School District, which allowed LBCC to tap into its funds. Muñoz called the model "a triangulation of all of our agencies working together" meant to ensure the program continues into the future.

Staffing is also tied to the college. Muñoz said many of the program's aides are recruited from LBCC's child development students who qualify for federal work study, an idea brought forward by Dean Yvonne Gutierrez-Sandoval. Montoya has applied to become one of those aides, so that she can help support the program that has supported her.