Helping Young Mothers for More Than a Century

A young woman wearing ruby slippers and a blue and white checked gingham dress greets the mayor of Los Angeles at the door.

Together they pose for pictures, she in her Dorothy get-up from “The Wizard of Oz,” he in his magisterial finery, standing in front of a wooden cutout schoolhouse facade and make-believe trees, cartoon faces carved on the trunks. The yellow tape on the floor is supposed to represent a brick road.

For all of the children present, nothing here is imaginary, any more than a Grinch or Barney the purple dinosaur or Harry Potter is, because it is practically the only reality they know at this age.

Life is just a sing-along, or a grown-up asking for a show of hands, as when Richard Riordan puts on a happy face and asks, “OK, which of you wants to grow up to be mayor of Los Angeles?”

Tiny arms go up, cued by adults making gestures of encouragement.

“Now, which of you wants to grow up to be president of the United States?’

Only one hand is raised. These may be preschool kids, but most of them are already too smart for that.

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Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony was for the opening of the new Century-Crittenton Village Learning Center, a new and sorely needed child-care facility in Lincoln Heights for infants from low-income families.

We all know of parents whose hands are too full, trying to make ends meet while juggling a kid or two (or three or six).

Some of them do not work at all, staying home, collecting government aid and feeling shame, or sensing the contempt of others who think of them as lazy and good-for-nothings.

There are opinions aplenty, but solutions? Not so many.

In the Greater Los Angeles area, finding a trustworthy and affordable baby-sitter is increasingly difficult.

One godsend for a century and more has been the Florence Crittenton Center, that imposing gray edifice on Avenue 33, which is one of the few group homes in Los Angeles County where young mothers--and by this we do not mean mere teenagers, but girls as unthinkably young as 12--have been able to get help. Many are wards of juvenile court sent to the center by government agencies.

“Someone asked how long I’ve known of the Crittenton Center, and off the top of my head I said, ‘Probably since it started up 70 years ago,’ ” Riordan pointed out Tuesday, at once extending a compliment to the center’s longevity and making an allusion to how long he has been around.

“Then I had to correct myself, because it’s actually 108 years old. Isn’t that incredible?”

It is. Los Angeles itself is a young city, not even incorporated as a U.S. municipality until 1850. Organizations such as the county’s department for children’s services--which places dependents at the Florence Crittenton Center--are relatively new, here in a county where 483,000 children, according to the 1990 census, are living below the official poverty level.

So this week’s christening of the new Century-Crittenton Village learning center was more than just some photo op for the mayor and a few handy Munchkins. It is a place where toddlers from low-income households can frolic in an Oz-themed setting and have their developmental needs met.

“There are in excess of 75,000 children in Los Angeles County in desperate need of child care,” said Hillary Alexander, director of development for the Florence Crittenton Center, who is all too familiar with long waiting lists.

“Some of the facilities for children cost upward of $160 a week. That’s over $8,300 a year, and most families can’t afford that. And by that I mean the working poor. These people are not on welfare typically, but hold multiple jobs and work a lot of hours to provide for their kids’ needs.”

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Trouble is, kids have needs other than shoes and milk.

At the new learning center--located at Mission Village Terrace, on land owned by the nonprofit housing lender Century Housing--preschoolers can get the personal attention they deserve and crave. And partial and full tuition assistance is available to families that need it most.

“In the Greece of antiquity,” said Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa, a possible Los Angeles mayor of the future, who was also on hand, “it was up to the citizens to build a new library, a new university. The public had to be the caregivers. The mark of a great society is what you build for the children.”

There are never enough caregivers to go around. Yet at least there are a few more today, and those of you who know who you are, raise your hands.

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Mike Downey’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Write to: Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. E-mail: mike.downey@latimes.com