Interview with Khadra Hassan

“The technical support team has helped me to the best of their ability, Hafsa Mohamed specifically has helped me with the Renovation grant and multiple other grants but that one was a big project, and it was eventually approved.I cannot even begin to put into words how beneficial it has been and how thankful I am to them for their support. I get informed of new grants and latest updates all the time; they also host information sessions which are helpful. Having a support team who are in the system and consist of people who speak the same language as me and have the same culture creates a sense of confidence to be able to ask them any questions I might have. These services are particularly important to have available to providers like me because they work to bring useful grants and information to my attention.

It makes me comfortable hearing things being explained in my language and it is more important than receiving that same information in English because some of us have a language barrier. Even if we talked all day, I could not effectively communicate how important it is to receive this help from Voices of Tomorrow. I am glad I found them. They are different from other services because of the specific community they focus on, in this country there is systemic racism and staff that have the same background are more likely to help you more sincerely while other people could be biased towards you based on your skin color or name. There are stereotypes on people speaking a different language they automatically might assume you don’t have the ability to understand, which is not true it’s just that there is a language barrier and most of us have learned and become successful in our homeland but how do you get that across to someone who doesn’t speak the same language? Language does not equal knowledge because most of us have wisdom and have been through hardships like civil war, but we are still resilient.

So having someone from the same background supporting you is not something to take lightly. It creates comfortability to ask any question you might feel you need to know and guide you in the right direction even if something goes wrong while you might restrict yourself with another person based on the possibility that it might be taken out of context.”

Interview with Saida Alim

VOT: “Tell me about your experience with the support team in your own words?”

Saida Alim: “I attended several information sessions about grants. It helped me understand the grant better and decided if it was a good fit for me beforehand. Each session breaks down deadlines and what to prioritize, so overall it has been extremely helpful. The first grant I worked with Voices of Tomorrow on was the Child Care Stabilization grant, they focused on receipt collection, penalties, what is allowed and what is not, and most of all it helped me prepare in case there was an audit. They gave us diverse ways to not only keep track of our receipts but to prevent them from getting deleted or going missing. The session helped me be more mindful of how I currently keep track of my receipts. These sessions are an effective way to give providers the confidence to apply for funding and use it for what it is meant for.”

VOT: “Why is it important to have services like this available to childcare providers?”

Saida Alim: “The better question is why would it not be important? It is people from your own community teaching you step by step on how to successfully comply with WAC requirements, rules, and policies, how to troubleshoot your handbook in case there is a grant coming up and you do not have the correct wording to apply. VOT (Voices of Tomorrow) speaks on behalf of providers when it comes to DCYF (Department of Children, Youth, and Families) with things like daycare providers being shut down for minor things that could have been prevented. VOT is a backbone for providers because they have someone that is a representative of them that speaks their language and has the same background, so I believe VOT is a valuable tool for providers.

VOT: “Would you recommend the service to others?”

Saida Alim: “In a heartbeat. Just knowing that they are there for me gives me ease, if I have a question that they are there to answer it. Just by their existence, I know I have support even if I do not use some of their other services. If more providers knew the benefits of some of the programs I have participated in, they would be singing songs about you all.”