Emergency Funds for Refugee Women's Childcare

Refugee women who are the early childhood educators at Little Twigs Childcare in Missoula, Montana, are losing their childcare and their ability for employment if they don't come up with co-payments of $400-$990 per month starting January 1, 2023. The Montana government made sudden changes to the childcare subsidy program and put the bill in the hands of these hard-working childcare professionals. Little Twigs employs 15 women refugees and provides childcare to over 50 children. We have built a model of a global community that nurtures and empowers women and children from Syria, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, and Afghanistan.

Our mission is to provide high-quality childcare to all and empower refugee women and women of color for careers in Early Childhood Education.

We need emergency funds to cover three months of childcare subsidies for these teachers so they can stay working while we raise funds and find other avenues to cover their sudden unaffordable costs. Their work within our community has created ripples of love as they raise the next generation of children who are bridge builders across culture, language, class and religion.

Little Twigs is building a model of what it means to be a global community within a small western town. Unfortunately, our ability to grow and spread this model to other communities is being threatened by the short-sightedness of government policies.

Our track record is three years of providing innovative and high-quality care to a global community of children age 0-5.

Will you help us? Please help us through the next several months so we can be steadfast in our work to empower refugee women. Thank you.

How the fund is managed: Marmot Snetsinger (Owner and Director of Little Twigs) is directly managing the fund. It goes to her bank account at Clearwater Credit Union in the Staff Tuition Ease Program (S.T.E.P.) fund and is personally distributed monthly to the staff according to what they each owe. (Each of the 10 refugee teachers owes a different amount that is calculated by the Best Beginnings scholarship program, overseen by Childcare Resources). The teachers will each contribute their services and talents to continue to grow the fund through fundraising activities including dinners, Parent's Night Out, bake sales and other events.