How does the Santa Cruz County CEL work?
In simple terms, once your family is determined eligible, your information gets inputted in a single list where all applying families are ranked by need. Your need is compared with the rest of applying families and following state regulations a dynamic place is assigned to your family. Because the places given to families are not fixed and change every time a new family is entered we are unable to inform families of when they will be the next to be served. When participating programs have an opening, it is up to their staff to contact the parent of the first ranked family to initiate their enrollment process. It is important for parents to know that the Santa Cruz County CEL system is only the keeper of the applicants’ information; we do not offer direct services to the families and we do not know when openings will occur at the participating programs. What information do I need to provide when contacting the Santa Cruz County CEL or when applying directly to a participating program? Y
