Orange Coast College is
Kicking Kids to the Curb...
What We're Fighting For
And why we refuse to let this decision stand unquestioned.
High-Quality Early Childhood Education
The Children's Center at OCC is a vital cornerstone of our community, providing unparalleled early childhood education through a proven, research-based curriculum, dedicated, highly-qualified educators, and individualized attention. The Center not only sets a strong foundation for academic readiness but is also one of the most affordable programs of its kind in OC—offering better futures for underserved families. ECE is proven to enhance cognitive and social-emotional development, reduce future academic struggles, and promote lifelong success.
Why would a community college dismantle an institution dedicated to giving our community's kids the best start in life?
Our
Educators
The OCC Children's Center is built on the unwavering dedication and expertise of our exceptional teachers and staff. They are not just daycare workers—they are credentialed, experienced educators shaping the future of our children. Yet OCC’s proposed ‘solution’ is to reassign them to other roles on campus, like janitorial positions. This isn’t just a staffing change; it’s a threat to the quality of education and care our children deserve. Privatizing the center means lower quality, higher turnover, and increased safety risks.
Child-Centered
Degrees & Programs
The reduction in services and the impending closure of OCC's Children's Center will devastate aspiring early childhood educators. This Center is a critical bridge between theory and practice for students in Early Childhood Education, Speech Language Pathology, and Child Development programs. By reducing services, we’re cutting off high-quality, hands-on learning opportunities, which have helped make OCC's graduates some of the most sought-after educators in the market.
Fiscal
Responsibility
As approved by the OCC Administration, the plan to downsize the Children's Center will render a $300K-$1M annual deficit—a chosen waste of taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile, our proposal for simply reorganizing classrooms can eliminate the deficit altogether, retain staff and students, and turn a profit in the first year. OCC Administration and CCCD President have acknowledged that our plan would work—both financially and operationally.
Additionally, long-term expansion models could drive even more upside, such as increasing the number of students the Center could serve, reducing the waitlist, hiring more teachers, and more. And although the Children’s Center would be self-sustaining without reliance on donors or grants with our proposal, there are still plenty of opportunities available in that arena as well.
Solving the OC
Childcare Crisis
Orange County is considered a childcare desert* and the proposed reduction in services from OCC and its Board of Trustees will lead to one of two possible outcomes. Either, it will be the end of the program entirely—as it cannot sustain a business model exclusively serving OCC student parents—or it will fall into the private equity trap, leading to low-quality care, high teacher turnover, and high costs for families. We must prevent these possibilities from becoming a reality to protect the well-being of children, the livelihood of our educators, and our families—especially working mothers.
*Childcare desert: An area where the supply of affordable, high-quality childcare is far below the demand from families, forcing parents to make difficult choices that impact family income, child development, and the local economy.
How To Help
Help us spread the word to raise awareness and save the Children's Center at OCC.
Upcoming Events
Help us raise awareness by attending an upcoming event
We Are The
Children's Center
And we're #StrongAsSteele!
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