Elena Perez stands watching her four-year-old daughter Anita enjoy the last few minutes on the playground of the child care center before taking her home. She doesn't have to go far-just upstairs to her one-bedroom apartment in the same Los Angeles building, La Villa Mariposa (Village of the Butterfly), where she, her husband, Miguel, and Anita have lived for two years.

From the center, which serves infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, it's easy to see out the large plate glass windows to the lawn and colorful play structure. Some families can even watch the playground from their apartment windows. Perez smiles at Marisol Garcia, the child care worker on duty, and comments, "I've seen her since Day One," when Anita entered the program at two years, three months old.

Perez appreciates being able to raise her child in a safe, gang-free environment in New Economics for Women's (NEW) modern 115-unit apartment complex in the heart of Los Angeles. With the bilingual program offered at the child care center and the regular contact with her neighbors, Anita will continue learning Spanish as she learns English. Meanwhile, Perez can complete her all-day computer course, while her husband is at work in his job as a sales counselor. Proud of her As and Bs and the 12 college credits she's already earned, she hopes for an office job when she graduates.

It was a case manager at La Villa who steered her to the computer course. Every new resident in NEW's complexes meets with a case manager to draw up a plan outlining personal goals-such as learning English, opening up a small business, being a better parent. NEW emphasizes not just the "economic assets, but spiritual assets as well," says Beatriz Stotzer, one of the founders. NEW then tries to link parents up with the resources to help meet that goal.

Besides the computer course, NEW connected Perez's family to the Central American Resource Center, where her husband is receiving free legal aid in applying for citizenship. Two evenings a week, Perez earns some money by doing child care just down the street at La Posada, NEW's dorm-style program for teen mothers.

Child care and continuity

The housing complexes of NEW are designed based on the needs, identified through focus groups, of the women they serve. Many programs for low-income families put all their emphasis on employment, says NEW Executive Director Maggie Cervantes, but for women, "child care was a must. It was a priority to have their children feel safe during the day and after school until they returned from jobs." And so NEW's very first development, Casa Loma, included a child care center.

On-site child care is convenient, saving parents from transporting their children on the crowded buses and freeways of Los Angeles. The longevity of care at La Villa, from six weeks to kindergarten, is another plus. But what's unique is NEW's "holistic approach" and the "continuity of support systems," says Pamela Sorlagas, executive director of the Los Angeles Child Care and Development Council, which operates NEW's child care programs. "At other sites where we work," says Sorlagas, "parents don't have this kind of support system."

At La Posada, for example, a child care worker concerned about a baby with a fever can send a note to the staff working with the young mothers. Similarly, if a child needs outside assessment that the family can't arrange, the child care worker can contact the building's case manager.

An extra push

Anna Obligación, child care site supervisor at La Villa Mariposa, agrees. "It's so different providing child care in this environment. There are so many resources here. The parents who live in the building are more cooperative," something which she attributes to the frequent workshops and meetings and the assistance of NEW's case managers. As a result of the extra communication, NEW children are less likely to have their care cut off or "get lost in the system." There's an "extra push," she says, "that comes from living in this building."

New Economics for Women

The Organization:

New Economics for Women (NEW) designed, developed, and operates six complexes (350 units) of affordable multi-family housing with on-site customized family, educational, and job-training services in the inner city neighborhoods of Belmont/Pico Union and East Los Angeles. Its aim is to break the cycle of poverty and improve the standard of living of its residents, moving them from subsidized housing to homeownership in three to five years.

The Vision:

In the mid 1980s, a group of Latina feminists who belonged to an activist group called Comisión Femenil Mexicana Nacional (CFMN) pooled their skills-as a university professor, attorney, community activist, manager-to help other women struggling with the poverty that they had experienced firsthand. They had already founded a child care center, the Centro de Niños, but they dreamed of combining job creation and training with housing designed for the needs of working mothers.

Beatriz Stotzer, one of the original founders and NEW board chair, explains, "As Latinas we felt strongly that to address poverty, we had to deal with it from the self-esteem of the family. No one at that time was addressing the needs of women and children. We saw housing as a catalyst. And for Latino families, we had to ensure that it was centered around what makes child care the easiest-access and quality."

The Services:

• On-site child care
• Life- and job-skills training
• After school youth service program
• Computer learning centers
• Literacy and English as a Second Language classes
• Counseling
• Parenting classes
• Case management
• Wellness Center, which enrolls families in Medi-Cal or Healthy Families and does its own health education
• Transportation assistance through taxi vouchers and bus tokens.

The Funding:

NEW originated with a $97,000 grant from the United Way, followed by $5.3 million from the City of Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency. Now recognized by HUD as a national model for housing in the 21st Century, it draws funds from local and national banks, lending institutions, and private foundations, including the Fannie Mae, Enterprise, and Wells Fargo foundations.

The Los Angeles Child Care and Development Council provides state-subsidized child care, as well as breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks funded through the California Child Care Food Program.

The Results:

According to NEW's Resident Financial Progress Report (1999), between 1993 and 1998, the 172 residents in the original housing development (Casa Loma):

• Increased their income by 50 percent, much more than their neighbors
  
  
• Moved from unskilled labor positions such as housekeepers and day laborers to more full-time skilled positions. For example, the percentage of residents in "professional specialty occupations" increased from 3 percent to 22 percent. Those in housekeeping jobs decreased by 11 percent.