Stakeholders call on Gov. Newsom to extend wildfire recovery assistance for child care providers

ALTADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- Stakeholders on Friday called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to extend California's wildfire recovery assistance for child care providers.

Advocates held a morning news conference at the site of a home that had doubled as a child care business before being destroyed in the Eaton Fire.

Newsom's executive order to provide aid to such workers has ended. Business owners are asking for the assistance to be extended for at least another month.

Nearly 200 child care providers in the Altadena area lost their businesses in the inferno, leaving about 1,500 children without child care, according to the Service Employees International Union.

"I received a denial based on I had renter's insurance," child care provider Felisa Wright said at the news conference. "They asked if I could submit my summary of coverage and I did that. So, I'm just waiting to hear from them. (The Small Business Administration) denied me based on my incoming, saying that I didn't have enough income -- based on my IRS tax return -- to pay back the loan."

Southern California Edison says that its equipment may have sparked a wildfire in Sylmar that broke out the same day as two massive blazes in the area killed at least 29 people and destroyed thousands of homes.

"We're demanding and we're imploring that the state of California act with the same urgency that they had 30 days ago," Max Arias, of SEIU Local 99, told reporters. "We demand that aid to child care providers be extended indefinitely, so they can start the process of recovery and rebuilding now.

"The families of California need this," Arias said. "The families of this community need this. It's about providers, it's about children and it's about working families."

A group of state legislators on Friday afternoon are expected to speak to the media about their efforts to provide aid to businesses, including child care providers.