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18.5 Child Care Assistance (#11) a. Child care expenditures for low-income families that need child care to work, participate in work activities, or for respite purposes. This includes families that receive child care during temporary periods of unemployment. Various non-profit agencies provide child care services for needy families so that parents may participate in job preparation and work activities. These services are provided to families below 180% of the federal poverty level. b. Early learning and pre-kindergarten education programs that do not meet the definition of a general state expense – such as expansion of Head Start programs, or other school readiness programs. The Nevada Department of Education (DOE) school readiness pre-kindergarten program serves children prior to entrance into kindergarten, or first grade for those children that will not attend kindergarten. The program goals are to provide children with high quality early education and readiness skills that are necessary to be successful in school and to form the groundwork for making better choices in life. The program promotes parent involvement for a foundation of family commitment to education. TANF Purpose: 1) Provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives; 2) End the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; and 3) Prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies. Type: TANF and State MOE. 18.6 Financial Education and Asset Development (#12) Programs designed to support the development and protection of assets including contributions to Individual Development Accounts, training on asset development and protection and access to mainstream banking with credit and debt management counseling, and tax filing assistance programs. These programs support healthy marriage and responsible fatherhood promotion activities via financial management and improving the family dynamic in financial matters through conflict prevention/resolution. The following are examples of financial and asset development programs within Nevada. Financial education programs provide free income tax preparation and financial education for needy families below 250% of the poverty level. The DWSS is developing financial education and asset development training for NEON program participants. TANF Purpose: 2) End the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; and 4) Encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families. These are pro-family activities. Type: TANF and State MOE.