At the Garment Worker Center, we try to be much more than just a service organization. So we strive to make this a place where workers feel comfortable bringing their children with them when they come to the GWC for activities on Saturday afternoons. In order to do this, we provide child care for kids ranging in age from about 1 to about 14 years of age. We welcome volunteers who would like to share in the joy of caring for these young people. Many of these children speak only Spanish, but all are eager to play, create, and share with everyone, regardless of their language abilities.
We are looking for energetic political conscious volunteers who want to help with child care development.
Every week, garment workers come to the GWC to participate in workshops and activities. The workers regularly bring their children with them. The children may be at the office for 1-4 hours at a time.
Rather than having the children just watch a video for a few hours, we would like to create a positive learning experience for them. We would like to offer planned activities and specialized games to help stimulate the children’s physical, emotional, intellectual, and social growth. We would like to help children explore their interests, develop their talents and independence, build self-esteem, and learn how to get along with others.
The GWC’s vision is to build a community of people that will join the fight for social, economic and environmental justice. While our work focuses on garment workers, the children of the workers will play a key role in our society. We want to connect them to the struggles of their parents and to the large social justice movement.
Actual Duties:
• Commit to volunteering for childcare for 1 or 2 Saturdays, from 12-5pm, each month.
• Create activities that develop children’s physical, mental and emotional skills.
• Introduce children to social justice principles.
Expectation:
While the GWC strives to provide quality care for children, we also realize the limitations of our work. We only see children once a week, for a few hours and some children only come for a few weeks while others come for a few months. We also have a wide age range of children from newborn to 14 years old. We realize that it may be difficult to plan for such an inconsistent group. Our plan is to create enough activities and infrastructure to allow flexibility.
General Description of work:
Most childcare workers perform a combination of basic care and teaching duties. Through many basic care activities, childcare workers provide opportunities for children to learn. For example, a worker who shows a child how to tie a shoelace teaches the child while also providing for that child’s basic care needs. Childcare programs help children to learn about trust and to gain a sense of security.
Young children learn mainly through play. Recognizing the importance of play, childcare workers build their program around it. They capitalize on children’s play to further language development (storytelling and acting games), improve social skills (working together to build a neighborhood in a sandbox), and introduce scientific and mathematical concepts (balancing and counting blocks when building a bridge or mixing colors when painting). Thus, a less structured approach is used to teach preschool children, including small-group lessons, one-on-one instruction, and learning through creative activities, such as art, dance, and music.
Interaction with peers is an important part of a child’s early development. Preschool children in childcare centers have an opportunity to engage in conversation and discussions, and to learn to play and work cooperatively with their classmates. Childcare workers play a vital role in preparing children to build the skills they will need in school.
Childcare workers in preschools greet young children as they arrive, help them to remove outer garments, and select an activity of interest. When caring for infants, they feed and change them. To ensure a well-balanced program, childcare workers prepare daily and long-term schedules of activities. Each day’s activities balance individual and group play, and quiet and active time. Children are given some freedom to participate in activities in which they are interested.
Helping to keep young children healthy is an important part of the job. Childcare workers serve nutritious meals and snacks and teach good eating habits and personal hygiene. They ensure that children have proper rest periods. They identify children who may not feel well or who show signs of emotional or developmental problems and discuss these matters with their supervisor and the child’s parents. In some cases, childcare workers help parents to locate programs that will provide basic health services.
Early identification of children with special needs—such as those with behavioral, emotional, physical, or learning disabilities—is important to improve their future learning ability.
If you'd like to volunteer to help with child care at the GWC, please
download our volnteer application and either mail it to us at 1250 S. Los Angeles St. #213, Los Angeles, CA 90015 or fax it to (213) 748-5876. Please be sure to write that you want to help with child care!
