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In This Issue
Focus on Work/Life and Wellness Programs, Vol. 12, No. 2, Spring 2001

VA Supports Child Care Tuition Assistance
Comprehensive Program Established in Record Time

In August 2000, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) embarked on developing a comprehensive tuition assistance program for alleligible VA employees to be effective January 1, 2001. Thanks to the work of thecontributors and the leadership of the Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM),VA was proud to have successfully completed the initiative on time. After four months of persistent work on the part of committed employees at VA, the completion of the "One VA Child Care Tuition Assistance Program" called for a celebration. An awards and recognition ceremony was held at the VA Headquarters on March 21, 2001 in Washington, DC to recognize the individuals, respective organizations, and staff offices that contributed to its successful implementation. All together, the ceremony recognized 110 employees with certificates and cash awards. Members of several project committees — the Steering Committee,  Implementation Committee, and the Communication Committee VA officials and project committees that helped to successfully launch the program were recognized at an awards ceremony at Headquarters. were among those recognized. "Supporting Contributors" also recognized included representatives from administration, congressional and legislative affairs, policy, budgeting, contracting, public affairs, as well as the union and management.

The first step in the project involved an assessment of the employee population. Through this assessment, VA learned that among the 240,000 employees, which are organized under 3 major administrations, approximately 3,000 employees might be eligible for tuition assistance. The OHRM, the committees, and various contributors worked quickly and diligently to design the program model, application forms, fact sheet, handbook, employee survey, 800 toll free automated information system, and a website for interested employees to visit. Since the program became available in January, over 900 employees (with over 1200 children) have enrolled, but more are expected. A picture of a 5 million dollar check made out to the VA Child Care Tuition Assistance Program.

Employee surveys indicate that some parents want to wait for the legislation to become permanent before enrolling. The Department is very committed to the "One VA Child Care Tuition Assistance Program," as evidenced by the $5 million dollars earmarked for the first year. A marketing committee is actively promoting the program through a campaign of on-site visits to help employees, especially those in the field, learn more about it. A website was unveiled in December for employees to access information about the program — the site received over 5,000 hits in the early months. A survey of agency employees on the VA web site revealed that 89% of the eligible employees factor the availability of tuition assistance for child care in their decision to stay with the agency. Overall, respondents rated the application processing as easy to understand, speedy, and fair. One survey question asked whether the pilot program should be made permanent and the majority responded that it should. For more information about the One VA Child Care Tuition Assistance Program, contact the Executive Project Director, Maxcine Sterling at (202) 273-9811.

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