Throughout Erie County, many communities are in desperate need of daycare. In Buffalo, there is a program meant to connect communities, close a daycare gap and help create options for the underserved.
Some refugees, who became Americans are helping to solve the daycare crisis.
Laughing and playing, Solange Niyigena is grateful for help she's received opening her west side daycare, Angel's Group Family Childcare, in 2015.
In Buffalo, there is a program meant to connect communities, close a daycare gap and help create options for the underserved"That's why I named my daycare 'angels,' because I say angels are those people who don't know where you are from; who don't know what you were doing. But when you come here they open their heart. They open their hands. They help you go through that hard time," Niyigena said.
Niyigena came to Buffalo, from Africa, in 2010 as a refugee. Over four years, she lived in ten different countries. She's since become an American citizen.
She was part of a program through Journey's End and Child Care Resource Network, teaching refugees how to run their own daycare, closing a major daycare gap in that community.
"The need is there. It's definitely there," said Kimberly Suminski, CEO at Child Care Resource Network. She says refugees, like Niyigena, are trained as part of a three-year, federal grant program, helping to create more culturally sensitive childcare options for parents.
"We're in our second year. We hope that we have 20 new childcare providers...within the next two years," Suminski said.
