Hello Menlo Park City Council, I am emailing you to urge you NOT to close Menlo Children's Center and Belle Haven Child Development Center. I know that the City Council has very challenging decisions to make in balancing the budget but I hope you look a little deeper into the cost-benefit analysis. Many of the families that attend these centers are less well-off and rely on affordable childcare. Some of those parents have been essential workers, keeping our town running through the pandemic. Most of the employees in the centers themselves are women, and many are Black or Latinx. These are the people in our community that we need to protect, elevate, and value at this turbulent time. Childcare provides exceptional early childhood development education, and Menlo Park's caregivers, many who have worked here for over 10 years, are of the highest quality. Menlo Park is in the heart of Silicon Valley, an area that prides itself on innovation and solving the toughest problems. I think there is a solution to keeping the child care centers open and thriving. Thank you so much, Kathy and Sam Wright Received on Mon Jun 08 2020 - 09:34:50 PDT
