How these South L.A. women built a child-care haven on their block

When the seven-beat rhythm of “shave and a haircut, two bits” resounds in the mornings on a car horn through this South L.A. neighborhood, Jackie Jackson or Guadalupe Andrade is likely behind the wheel, child-care providers who live on a one-block stretch of 115th Street.

The cheerful honk is a familiar greeting among parents, community members and these local child-care workers on their pick-up routes. At day’s end, the children will be dropped off at their doorstep, an invaluable service to working parents.

In an effort born of their determination to keep their businesses afloat while serving their neighbors, a tight-knit group of child-care providers stands as an unusual, grassroots example of resilience amid a time of struggle for the child-care industry, which is beset by the high cost of providing their service, staff shortages and competition with transitional kindergarten to enroll 4-year-olds.

Jackie Jackson buckles Oceane Taylor, 5, center, into her car seat while Loyal King, 2, right, sleeps before bringing them to her child-care family home service in Los Angeles.

Jackson and the three other child-care workers who operate on 115th Street lean on one another to keep their child-care homes open. Their secret?

They identified the pain points of parents and focus on addressing those needs — offering door-to-door transportation, tailoring support services to specific family concerns and keeping costs down by sharing resources. They often help families with food and have taken on a civic activist role when needed.

The day-care providers of 115th Street call themselves “the learning village” and swap furniture and toys, send photos of activities they’ve developed and advise each other on anything from selecting kid-friendly cups to dealing with difficult behavior. Together, they serve 60 children.

“We all have things to share,” Jackson said. “Behavior, transportation — everything you want to name. We all have it to share because we all try to make a difference.

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Support networks are vital for child-care providers, who can often feel isolated running their small businesses, said Donna Sneeringer, president of the Child Care Resource Center, a nonprofit that helps connect families in Southern California with child care and subsidies. Collaborative, peer-based support can help them stay in business longer and provide stable care to the community, she said.

“They become a fixture of that neighborhood and that community,” Sneeringer said. “It can be a wonderful support, both to them but also to all the families, because it makes the service richer and it helps build community more broadly.”

Though formal state-funded networks of child-care providers do exist in California, the self-styled providers of 115th Street illustrate how vital such connections can be, Sneeringer said.

How providers are leaning on each other

Bryson Brown, 3, left, Jackie Jackson, center, and Jabari Lyons Jr., 3, right, play with letters at her child care family home service, “Touched By an Angel Child Care.”

Since Jackson first opened Touched by an Angel Child Care nearly 25 years ago, she’s seen 12 providers come and go — many of whom she recruited herself.

Four providers currently operate on the 700 block of 115th Street.

Jackson’s pinkish-colored home stands at the center, a painting of a young boy and girl flying kites decorating the front window. To her right is an orange house that’s been home to Andrade Family Child Care since 2002. Next is a yellow home with brown trim, Perez Family Child Care that opened in 2022. Marquez Family Child Care, in operation since 2023, is across the street.

The four licensed family child-care facilities are located in homes either owned by the operator or a family member. The families of most children enrolled receive state and local subsidies and were referred through programs such as Crystal Stairs and Girls Club of Los Angeles — or they found out about 115th Street via word of mouth. Jackson and Andrade also connect with families through Early Head Start, a partnership which Perez also hopes to establish.

On days when Eunise Perez has fewer kids in her care, her crew of little ones occasionally take a field trip to Andrade’s day care for joint activities. At Halloween, the four providers gather for daytime trick-or-treating. Santa visits with toys at a Christmas party hosted by Jackson.

“It’s been a huge blessing for me,” said Perez, who moved back to her childhood block from Downey to open her home care. Perez was drawn to 115th Street because she knew Jackson, Andrade and others would offer support. The women gave her cubbies, shelves, a rug, paint and more.

From left, day-care worker Debby Samayoa, Bryson Brown, 3, Jabari Lyons Jr., 4, Oceane Taylor, 5, and Kamari Milton, 4, play outside at the child-care family home service in Los Angeles.

That same camaraderie also helped Lorena Marquez launch after a spinal injury prompted her to leave her previous job. A nearby day care that was closing passed along their furniture and toys. Two of the initial families under her care were also referred to her by Andrade, who had hit capacity at the time.

“I didn’t really need to come out of pocket, financially speaking,” Marquez said. “I didn’t have to really go out and look for any families to get started. All of that really supported me.”

Marquez is still struggling to make a profit once all the costs of maintaining her child-care home are met, she said. Jackson typically earns about $1,500 a month, she said. Typically Marquez charges families what state subsidies will pay based on recommendations from her union Child Care Providers United. All of her families receive subsidies to cover costs, she said.

Fulfilling a big need for transportation

At 7:20 a.m., Jackson jumps into her gray Nissan Quest minivan that families call the “bus,” shifting into her hourlong driver role. Most mornings, she picks up nine children, taking several older ones to elementary schools and toddlers and preschoolers to her home. Another driver she hired transports five more children. An assistant rides with her to help keep an eye on things.

The big need for day-care transportation has grown since the pandemic, Jackson said. Many parents work jobs with odd or unpredictable hours, do not have cars or juggle school rides for multiple kids. She does not charge extra for the rides because families can’t afford it. But she says the service keeps children enrolled at the 115th Street child-care homes.

California doesn’t offer additional transportation assistance for low-income families who qualify for state subsidies — an issue that Child Care Providers United is pushing the state to address.

“Now it’s drastic,” Jackson said of the need to provide the service to support families and keep slots filled. “But that’s when the child-care providers come in handy because we’re able to accommodate that. Which schools can accommodate it?”

Many of the families live or work in or near the Vermont Vista neighborhood, where more than a quarter of residents live below the poverty line, according to 2023 census data.

Kristopher Calmes works jobs with constantly changing hours. For him, Jackson’s flexibility in providing transportation and care has made it easier to balance his role as a single dad with his truck driver job. Calmes relies on Jackson’s service for his daughter Kalee almost everyday.

“She helps out tremendously,” Calmes said. “So I’m just thankful I’m able to move around just a little more. It makes it definitely more convenient for me to parent and work.”

Jackie Jackson leaves her child-care family home service to pick up children.

Helping families with basic needs

The 115th Street providers have looked beyond child care.

Perez saw that many of the children under her care have single moms struggling to make ends meet. When possible, she helps connect them with resources and occasionally drives them to the food bank. Marquez focuses on supporting the children’s social emotional skills by incorporating meditation music, social emotional oriented activities and constant communication with parents.

Jackson saw she could also help families with children with special needs. She’s made relationships at the South Central Los Angeles Regional Center, a nonprofit contracted with the California Department of Developmental Services, to provide support and resources to those with developmental disabilities. She’s learned its evaluation process and can serve as an informal advocate for families that need resources such as speech and language services.

Many of her families hold the initial meeting with Regional Center staff at her child-care home, so that she can help, she said. She also follows up to ensure that the process moves along smoothly.

And she pays extra attention to the needs of the children in her care, focusing on their interests to keep them engaged.

“If I see you like dumping out stuff … I’ll dump with you,” Jackson said. “You think I’m playing with you. And guess what I’ll do? I’ll say, ‘Let’s put all the yellow ones in the yellow container.’ We’re learning.”

The child-care providers also make their voices heard in neighborhood affairs. Marquez remembers when a home on 115th Street was being considered for a halfway house a few years back. The providers spoke out against the proposal to city officials, reminding them of the number of children in the vicinity. Though they don’t know how much of a role their voices played, the proposal ultimately did not move forward, she said.

Jackie Jackson has been a child-care provider for more than 25 years, serving her community through subsidized child care.

“I do believe now we’re doing an amazing thing for our families, our community and even for ourselves,” Marquez said.

This article is part of The Times’ early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children, from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go to latimes.com/earlyed.