There's a long line of families willing to put their children in Monroe County's school readiness program, but the funding has fallen short. For the parents of 122 children, the "extra money" needed to get them into the program won't come too soon.

That's why the news of a $279,000 contribution from Miami-Dade's Early Learning Coalition to the cash-strapped program in Monroe County is such good news, especially to Wesley House Family Services, which runs the program in the Florida Keys.

The program, a day-care and after-school program for newborns to 5-year-olds, prepares children for elementary school through "age-appropriate" curriculum.

"This is additional funding for the Monroe County school readiness program," said Doug Blomberg, executive director of Wesley House. "We work with child-care providers and give families financial assistance to help them pay for the child care. We already have used up all the money we had with child-care assistance, about $2.6 million."

Groups such as Wesley House, with its Inez Martin Child Development Center; the Key West Boys & Girls Clubs, church-based child-care centers and others provide the curriculum that prepares young children for school.

The Lower Keys, at least, until recent months has had a shortage of spots to place children in day care, but that's changed with the reopening of a remodeled Inez Martin and other private facilities.

"The parents choose the day care they want for their children," Blomberg said. "Wesley House is a big provider, but we provide a list of day-care centers for parents; but it's their choice -- they choose where their child will go."

The Miami-Dade coalition's board of directors approved the money for Monroe County on Dec. 1.

"Considering there are more than 8,000 children on the Miami-Dade wait list, the decision to move the dollars was difficult, but we understand the unique issues that Monroe County faces so we wanted to do whatever we could to help," the board wrote in its announcement.

To qualify for child-care money, all adults in the household must work a minimum of 20 hours per week and have a gross household income that is no higher than 150 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines. It breaks down thusly: two parents, maximum income of $20,000; three people, $25,755; four people, $30,975; five people; $36,195.

For child-care referrals, call Wesley House at 877-595-5437.