Lone Star College-Houston North students with young children ages 18 months to 4 years old will be able to apply for a program that will provide child care thanks to a new wraparound service through the Fallbrook Academy located at Fallbrook Church.
“A quarter of our students taking the survey consistently respond they need child care in order to attend school,” said Brandi Ford, LSC-Houston North Faculty Senate president. “Of the students responding, the majority indicated that during the last semester they did not have child care and it interfered with their classes.”
The initiative will address a need that students have long expressed to faculty and staff. Ford leads a committee that surveys students throughout the year to gauge their needs inside and outside of the classroom. The program will begin spring 2022.
To be eligible for the program, students must enroll in a minimum of six credit hours at LSC-Houston North, agree to work with a faculty or staff mentor and complete all requirements relating to the Fallbrook Academy. Once in the program, the participants will receive an added service from the OnPurpose Enrichment Center in the form of success coaches who will provide access to mental health counseling and other social services as needed.
This initiative is the latest in wraparound services provided by LSC-Houston North. Last year, when most courses shifted to online due to COVID-19, LSC-Houston North partnered with Comcast to provide six months of free internet service to the homes of students. This fall, through a partnership with the Houston Food Bank, LSC-Houston North has launched a food scholarship program that provides up to 60lbs of food every two weeks for all students enrolled in six or more hours.
“Child care has been a service we have not been able to provide for our students,” said Quentin Wright, Ed.D., LSC-Houston North president. “It is very exciting to finally be at the point where we can at start addressing a long-standing need.”
Wright, who believes that with the right structure and support all students can be successful, noted the program is funded through a combination of generous donors and CARES Act funding.
“It is amazing what the community can do when it comes together,” said Wright. “This idea started with a single donor with a heart for young parents. Now, we are able to move forward with what we hope will be a longtime service for students.”
Lone Star College offers high-quality, low-cost academic transfer and career training education to 93,000+ students each semester. LSC is training tomorrow’s workforce today and redefining the community college experience to support student success. Stephen C. Head, Ph.D., serves as chancellor of LSC, the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and has been named a 2021 Great Colleges to Work For® institution by the Chronicle of Higher Education and ranked 35th in Texas in the Forbes ‘America’s Best Employers By State’ list. LSC consists of seven colleges, seven centers, eight Workforce Centers of Excellence, Lone Star Corporate College and LSC-Online. To learn more, visit LoneStar.edu.