'The Center' is a place where amazing memories are made and children are given an opportunity to succeed, no matter their ethnic or financial backgrounds. It's where summer swim lessons teach children how to swim, and camping trips under the stars at Sugar Pine Reservoir create bonds that last a lifetime. It's where hard-working parents rely heavily upon for affordable childcare needs, and where lasting friendships are created, and kept. It's where alumni come back to work and volunteer, alongside teachers and staff from all walks of life. It's where, after alumni take adventures as adults, they move back just so their children can experience the diversity, culture and opportunity that the center has been providing for so many years. It's where people like Stan and Ethel Seiderman saw inequality and inequity in childcare in the 1970's, and did something about it!

PLEASE HELP US STOP THIS ATTEMPTED EVICTION!!

BOARD MEETING JUNE 14TH, 2022 AT 7PM

100 SHAW DRIVE

SAN ANSELMO, CA  94960

Please attend in-person if you can!!

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Courtney Payne, Corduroy Media 510-375-5967 415-497-1677 cp@corduroymedia.com

After nearly 50 years, the only subsidized child care site in Ross Valley faces closure.  

Located in Fairfax, CA a Ross Valley child care center that has served low-income children and families for over 50 years is being threatened with closure.  

As we know, Marin County is one of the most affluent counties in the nation, ranking in the top five.  However, that is not the whole story.   8.9% of children under the age of 6 live below the federal poverty level in Marin County.  (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (Jan. 2020).  

The fate of the only organization to serve that population in the Ross Valley area will be determined at a June 14 Board meeting.  The Fairfax San Anselmo Children’s Center (FSACC), is a family focused center that provides quality child care, parenting workshops, and meals for low-income families.  Having served generations of children, it’s the type of place where teens who went there as children come back yearly to volunteer.  The center is a pillar of the community.

The FSACC has leased the former school site known as Deer Park for nearly 50 years.  However, lease talks were renewed in March 2022 as a result of Heidi requesting a letter of intent to obtain a lease extension for a grant proposal.  A grant proposal that would allow them to update the facilities.

The Center has been on a month to month lease since July 2020, and now the Ross Valley School District is refusing to extend the lease citing fire safety issues.  

Terry Tao, a Los Angeles based lawyer who was brought in to represent the school district has proposed the center relocate as the necessary upgrades would cost millions of dollars, which the center doesn’t have. 

According to Tao, the fire issues include a substandard fire hydrant, the center only having a single evacuation route, and not enough space for large fire vehicles in case of an emergency. 

The Center director Heidi Tomsky, was taken by surprise by the classification of ‘at risk’, saying “The property owners have an easement with the Marin Municipal Water District, as this property is surrounded by water district open space” she said, referring to the fire vehicle access concerns. “We’ve always had an annual fire inspection, with no major red flags.”  She also stated that “There has been no documentation of any kind presented to them by Terry Tao, to identify these fire safety concerns.”

Tao on behalf of the Ross Valley School District is requesting that the center relocate within 30-60 days.  However, the FSACC contends that there is not enough time to find a new site to reopen.  If they were to relocate in such a short period of time, they would be forced to close down permanently, causing many families to lose the self-sufficiency that the center allows them to achieve.

As of now there is a public board meeting on June 14, which will decide a timeline for the closure of the center.  

Corduroy Media is a boutique media production company based in Oakland, CA.  Founded in 2003, by Carl D. Brown.  Our mission is to deep-dive into stories that represent and reflect our values while striving to provide the best creative solutions for our various clients.