Noticiero Movil

Children’s Cabinet of Northern Nevada

For the past 36 years, the Children’s Cabinet of Northern Nevada has worked to provide families in need with the supplies and tools necessary for a better quality of life in Reno. 

Locally, those efforts, as the name of the agency alludes to, is focused on the youngest amongst us. Within the city, for example, adolescents aged 18 years and younger make up about 21.2 percent of the population, whereas in the neighboring city of Sparks that number is about 23.5 percent.

With these figures in mind, the Children’s Cabinet’s mission becomes clearer, to “create [a] lasting public/private partnership[s] to address the needs of children and their families in our community.”

A year into the COVID-19 pandemic and many families with children throughout the Reno/Sparks area continue to struggle with the aftermath of the initial outbreak of the virus. 

Jessica Rosas, a licensed clinical social worker for the local agency, has noticed a rise in the amount of families that have come to their offices seeking advice during the year.

“We have seen an increase in families reaching out for parenting skills. Several parents, right now, are having to readjust,” she said. “They might have younger children and they’re working remotely and so just having to turn everything around and having to figure out how to still work while having little ones,” has been difficult for them, she reiterated. 

Krystal Pyatt, a representative for Children’s Cabinet, explained how the organization also adjusted to better provide services to Latinx families throughout the city.

“Since April and May, the beginning of the pandemic shutdown, we received funding for rent and mortgage assistance. With that funding, we supported 74 Latinx families out of 131 families who receive financial assistance from The Children’s Cabinet,” she said in an email. “Additionally, we have seen an 11% increase in serving the Latinx community in the Children’s Cabinet Market, our in-house food pantry.”

The Children’s Cabinet organizes their services into two categories: SEED (Supporting Early Education and Development), and Family, Youth, and Intervention (FYI). SEED clientele is about 41% Latinx while FYI’s serves 30 percent Latino parents through child care financial assistance.

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Article written by Melanie Mendez, a junior at the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno.