Valle Lindo parents look for child care alternatives in Walla Walla
During a Valle Lindo community meeting, one parent said paying for daily child care for three children would eat up 45% of their daily income.
The struggle to find affordable and accessible child care led parents and community members to hold a meeting to brainstorm options on Tuesday, April 7. The need has been exacerbated since Akin's free educational after-school and summer programs serving Valle Lindo closed in May 2025.
Valle Lindo, located at 133 Farmland Road, is a community of farmworkers and their families.
Here are the numbers - it costs about $25 a day per child to attend day care. In 2025, a farmworker's shift for 10 hours a day at minimum wage of $16.66 an hour totals to $166.60 in gross pay.
That gives the parent $166.60 a day or less to budget between rent, food, child care and other household expenses.
The numbers painted a stark picture for Abel Hernandez, a migrant specialist at College Place High School. At College Place Public Schools, migrant specialists work through the federally funded Washington State Migrant Education Program. The program aims to support children in migratory families who may have their education disrupted because of moving due to seasonal agricultural work through support services including free school meals and supplemental academic programs.
"We wanted to figure out the needs and challenges families are facing," Hernandez said. "There is a big need for (child care) services in the summer. Parents don't have adequate child care."
Hernandez said he plans to take this information and other testimonies back to the school district to see what can be done and what resources can become available. Valle Lindo is within the College Place School District boundary.
"We also need to continue providing the academic component serving kids," he said.
About 20 people attended the meeting, including participants working for College Place School District, MomsRising, Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition, Akin's Triple Point, Providence and Camp Fire Walla Walla.
The meeting was conducted in Spanish. Participants identified issues such as the lack of transportation options children have to Walla Walla-area day care providers, the lack of care available for younger children who cannot be left alone and the quality of care for kids beyond just looking at a screen or iPad.
Ruben Hernandez, executive director for Camp Fire Walla Walla, said the nonprofit will be starting an after-school program at Davis Elementary at the start of the new academic school year.
The program also offers financial assistance in the form of scholarships and the Working Connections Child Care subsidy program supported by state and federal dollars. Through the program, families who qualify can get help paying for child care while parents are at work or school.
Valle Lindo parent Paola Herrera Silva led the meeting to rally parents together. Herrera Silva also serves as the community engagement coordinator with the Walla Walla Immigrant Rights Coalition.
Parents and community members pooled their phone numbers together to make a working group. Herrera Silva said she plans to hang flyers on people's doors in Valle Lindo to get more parents involved.
"We want to get this resource back and show up, so people see that we are here," Herrera Silva said.
Community member Eva Madrigal said that this is an opportunity to rally together, like what residents in Prescott did for the school district, where the state recently withdrew a petition to dissolve the district.
Madrigal said the current situation is close to one she grew up in as a child in a migrant farmworker family.
"Parents need a safe place for their child, and when their child is in a safe place, that's when you can fully give back and put all your effort to your job," Madrigal said.
Jaquelin Saldaña-Carrillo, Triple Point program specialist at Akin, provided support with Spanish-English translation during the community meeting in this story.
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