The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created a number of pressing challenges for working families within the OSU community. Several area daycares have closed and others are operating at reduced capacity. Families with school-aged children continue to face uncertainty with respect to the resumption plans for the 2020-21 school year.
In response to these concerns, the College of Liberal Arts, with the help of strategic institutional partners, is organizing a temporary child care option that activates one of our greatest assets: OSU students.
This program aims to recruit a pool of undergraduate students interested in providing child care and educational services to faculty and staff for winter term 2021. In addition to receiving wages, we hope to enable students pursuing degrees in early childhood education and related fields to enroll in internship or practicum credits.
Students can provide basic child care services or offer specialized educational enrichment in areas such as art and music, second languages, sports, and subject tutoring. The goal is to help meet the needs of OSU working families while simultaneously allowing students to flex their talents while gaining practical work experience.
This program utilizes the university’s existing subscription with care.com that provides no-cost memberships to all OSU employees and students. Care.com is an external, web-based marketplace that enables care seekers and care providers to post profiles and communicate on its platform. Care.com independently offers a number of resources and tools for matching care providers and hiring families, including options to search by zip code and by university affiliation. This program further optimizes the search process for hiring families by generating a list of OSU students interested in providing services in the local community. Families seeking care will request to receive the list of participants as an additional tool for the search and hiring process through care.com. Please note that student participants who appear on the list are not university employees. As such, these participants are not subject to university policy and procedures and are not endorsed, nor vetted by the university. Hiring families and students should utilize the resources and tools available through Care.com for guiding the search and hiring process. Care.com provides its own options for conducting background and reference checks, as well as a suite of safety resources for care seekers and care providers. All decisions related to hiring, pay, and work protocols will be negotiated independently between students and hiring families using the communication options provided through care.com.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for students who would like to provide child care and educational enrichment services to OSU families in winter and spring term 2021. These opportunities are open to all students. International students should check with International Programs advisors about eligibility related to their student visa type.
Students offering traditional child care services in person should reside in the local area during during the relevant term. Students offering educational enrichment services may elect to provide lessons remotely from another location. It is important that participants be available for the duration of winter and spring terms, unless they negotiate other terms in their hiring.
Babysitting/nannying. Students provide care to OSU families in their homes or another location. This work may include assisting school-aged children with their remote or online educational program.
Students offer lessons based on their talents, area of expertise, or area of study. Students can choose to offer services in person or remotely. Examples: art or drawing lessons, hobbies/sports, music lessons, second-language lessons, or subject tutoring.
Student participants will receive pay in exchange for their work. Students are able to set their own hourly rate or rate per lesson. In addition, some academic programs may allow students to enroll in academic credit for their work with families. Please contact your academic advisor or internship coordinator to explore these possibilities. Regardless of whether students pursue academic credit, these experiences can be resume visible. Students will also gain practical experience working closely with children and families. Such opportunities will be especially beneficial to student pursuing careers in education, human services, social work, and other professional fields. Students providing educational enrichment will be able to practice and teach their unique talents to a new generation. While COVID-19 presents many challenges, this opportunity will offer students one way to apply their skills and talents to help meet the local demand for child care and educational support.
Students will use the provide contact form to sign up for this program. By submitting the contact form, students consent to having their name included on the list of participants distributed to hiring families.
Students participating in this network will complete the following online trainings:
All trainings are free and available online.
Optional training: CPR/First Aid Training
CPR/First Aid training comprises an online module and a COVID-safe in-person test at Dixon Recreation Center. Students enrolled in the College of Liberal Arts are eligible to receive this training at no cost. Please contact cari.maes@oregonstate.edu if you are interested in enrolling in the optional CPR/First Aid Training.
Considerations for COVID-19 Testing
At this time, we are unable to offer testing for hiring families and care providers. Hiring families and care providers are encouraged to discuss COVID-19 testing as a part of a wider set of health and safety protocols related to in-home caregiving. Students should be familiar with Student Health Services information related to COVID-19 symptoms, health and safety protocols, and testing options. All students can register with the OSU TRACE Project that is conducting randomized, voluntary testing for the Corvallis Campus. Families and care providers can also explore other external testing options through their own health providers, the Oregon Health Authority, or the Benton County Health Department.
All OSU community members have free access to care.com using their OSU email. Care.com guides users through an easy process for building a searchable profile. Students should be prepared to list their relevant experience, availability, work preferences (age ranges, pet-friendly, transportation, etc), specific skills and/or training, and desired pay range. Students should indicate that they are participating in the CLA Child Care Network in their profile.
Tips on building your Care.com profile:
We will distribute a list of student participants who have completed training and testing to OSU families seeking child care. Hiring families will reach out to prospective caregivers directly through care.com. Families and students will negotiate the terms of the hire, including work expectations and protocols, pay, and schedules independently.
Please note that students included on the list are not university employees. As such, they are not subject to university policy and procedures. Hiring families and students should utilize the available resources and tools available through care.com for guiding the search and hiring process. Care.com provides its own options for conducting background and reference checks, as well as a suite of safety resources for care seekers and care providers.
For more information contact:
Cari Maes from the College of Liberal Arts is coordinating this program. She may be contact directly at:
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has created a number of pressing challenges for working families within the OSU community. Several area daycares have closed and others are operating at reduced capacity. Families with school-aged children continue to face uncertainty with respect to the resumption plans for the 2020-21 school year.
In response to these concerns, the College of Liberal Arts, with the help of strategic institutional partners, is organizing a temporary child care option that activates one of our greatest assets: OSU students. Our goal is to help meet the child care needs of OSU working families while simultaneously allowing students to flex their talents and gain practical work experience.
This program aims to recruit a pool of students interested in providing child care and educational services to faculty and staff for Winter and Spring Term 2021. We will provide participating students with the option to complete relevant child care training, COVID-19 health and safety training, and initial COVID-19 testing.
This program utilizes the university’s existing subscription with care.com that provides no-cost memberships to all OSU employees and students. Care.com is an external, web-based marketplace that enables care seekers and care providers to post profiles and communicate on its platform. Care.com independently offers a number of resources and tools for matching care providers and hiring families, including options to search by zip code and by university affiliation. This program further optimizes the search process for hiring families by generating a list of OSU students interested in providing services in the local community. Families seeking care will request to receive the list of participants as an additional tool for the search and hiring process through care.com. Please note that student participants who appear on the list are not university employees. As such, these participants are not subject to university policy and procedures and are not endorsed, nor vetted by the university. Hiring families and students should utilize the resources and tools available through care.com for guiding the search and hiring process. Care.com provides its own options for conducting background and reference checks, as well as a suite of safety resources for care seekers and care providers. All decisions related to hiring, pay, and work protocols will be negotiated independently between students and hiring families using the communication options provided through care.com.
Babysitting/nannying. Students provide care to OSU families in their homes or another location. This work may include assisting school-aged children with their remote or online educational program.
Students offer lessons based on their talents, area of expertise, or area of study. Students can choose to offer services in person or remotely. Examples: art or drawing lessons, hobbies/sports, music lessons, second-language lessons, or subject tutoring.
COVID-19 presents many challenges for families managing care responsibilities and work. This network offers flexible options for families to determine the type of care and caregiver that fit their current needs. Parents needing care during working hours can search for care providers offering traditional child care services. Families who would like educational enrichment services can look for providers offering services that match their interests. Care.com allows hiring families to search and select prospective caregivers using specific criteria and to customize the care protocols that fit their families’ circumstances and needs.
Care-seeking OSU employees can submit an interest form here (link to contact form) in order to receive a list of participating students. Care-seekers will then use OSU’s free access to care.com to search for prospective caregivers. You will use your OSU email to register with the site and create a profile that lists your information and caregiving needs. The provided list of students will serve as a tool for narrowing the search to only participants in the CLA Child Care Network.
