100 McAllister Street, Room
360, San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 558-8005; www.childcarelaw.org;
info@childcarelaw.org
August 2010: Child Care
Law Center Update
As you know, in
March 2010, CCLC’s Board of Directors reiterated CCLC’s mission as a State
Support Center for legal services programs. Thanks to the tireless efforts of CCLC’s former Executive
Director, Nancy Strohl, the State Bar Trust Fund approved 2010-11 grants
enabling the Law Center to:
·
Support
local legal services programs by training, co-counseling, and generating
materials
·
Maintain
its ability to analyze state child care policy and budget proposals as they
relate to California’s low income families
·
Share its
expertise on child care subsidy issues
Nearly all of CCLC’s
work now focuses on subsidized child care. The restructured CCLC is now a smaller organization that
cannot offer technical assistance on some of the issues that it
used to handle, such as land use. However, the Law Center is doing its best to
transfer those functions to longstanding partners and collaborators.
CCLC has accomplished a great deal
since March with regard to its primary organizational and substantive commitments. In April and
May, the CCLC Board approved a 2010-11 Master Budget, implemented a hiring
protocol for a new Directing Attorney, released a new manual on Child Care
Subsidies in California, scheduled three board meetings through early August
2010, and engaged part-time attorneys and administrative staff to satisfy
CCLC’s deliverables to the State Bar Trust Fund. The part-time work comes from
the Law Center’s talented former staff -- Eve Hershcopf, Claire Ramsey, and
Tara Wilson -- whom have kept CCLC going during its transition.
During June and
July, the Law Center hired a superb Directing Attorney, Melissa A. Rodgers, who will start work on September 1,
2010. Melissa’s bio is at the end
of this update. The Board
added two new members and bid a very reluctant farewell to Arlyce Currie and
Carol Stevenson, who had been involved since CCLC’s inception. Additionally, the Law
Center also leased office space at Hastings Law School, submitted budgets to the
State Bar Trust Fund, and received an unqualified Financial Review for fiscal
year 2009-10 from auditors at The Harrington Group.
In August, CCLC
will finalize a management and substantive manual for its staff and Board and
will focus on the pragmatic and policy issues that will carry the organization
through 2010-11. We look forward
to keeping CCLC’s partners and supporters informed through email communications as well as updates to our website.
For now, CCLC’s
most thrilling announcement is that Melissa A. Rodgers will be its new Directing
Attorney as of September 1, 2010. She will be based at CCLC’s new office at 100 McAllister St.,
Room 360, San Francisco CA 94102 (Tel: 415-558-8005). Melissa’s email address will be mrodgers@childcarelaw.org. Also, the Law Center’s website will remain www.childcarelaw.org with the main email
contact info@childcarelaw.org.
From 2008 to 2010, Ms.
Rodgers was the Associate Director of the Berkeley Center on Health, Economic
& Family Security at the UC Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley CHEFS) and the
Director of CHEFS’ Health Security work.
At Berkeley CHEFS, Melissa developed a research-based policy agenda for
health care reform and co-authored policy reports on current issues in health
care reform. She also filed a U.S.
Supreme Court amicus brief on
behalf of two San Francisco restaurants in Golden Gate Restaurant
Association v. City and County of San Francisco.