Overview
Until July 1, 2011, Centralized Eligibility List (CEL) systems were located in every county in California, though they differed in format by location.  A change in State funding means that now a CEL is no longer mandatory in each county and that contractors may now keep their own waiting lists. Our local Santa Cruz County Centralized Waiting List is now a voluntary collaboration by program administrators to serve families in need of subsidized child development services countywide.

The Santa Cruz County Centralized Waiting List is a system that allows subsidized child development providers in the system to access children that are eligible for their programs. On this list, families are ranked by eligibility factors for subsidized care (income, size, and need), not just time on the list.

See Commonly Asked Questions for more information on programs that still maintain individual eligibility (waiting) lists for subsidized services.

Benefits
The Santa Cruz County Centralized Waiting List enables families to have access to all programs for which they qualify by submitting a common application to the Santa Cruz County CEL agency or to any of the participating providers, expanding their opportunity to access subsidized care. Providers can potentially pull from a wider net of eligible families allowing their programs to be kept fully enrolled. Communities and counties can plan better to address the demand for care. Local, state and federal funding can be more focused to address the needs of eligible waiting families. We will also support local leaders in their decision making for and planning of affordable quality child care.

What We Do

• Collect family/child application data in a confidential, safe web-based database system.
• Maintain eligibility lists of applying families/children according to state eligibility rules for State contracted programs
• Support State contractors to share eligible family/child data for enrollment
• Maintain contact information for participating contractors