Making San Francisco Child and Family Friendly
It is too hard to find quality childcare in this city, and we have to do more to support our working families. After housing (and yes, we need more housing for families), childcare can be the most significant cost for families. And that’s if you can even find a childcare spot anywhere near your home.
For families that are able to pay for childcare, they often have to wait months, or even years, to get off of waiting lists for a location that is convenient to home or work. Families are struggling so much under the cost of living here as well as the daily chaos of just raising kids. We have to do better, and we are taking steps to improve childcare in this City.
It’s about Equity
Early care and education helps children build the skills they need for success in kindergarten and can help close the achievement gap. Children who attend high-quality early care and education programs before kindergarten perform better on assessments of reading and math skills and socio-emotional development. However, since early care and education programs are so expensive, low-income families face significant barriers. San Francisco created the Early Learning Scholarship program and Preschool for All program to help all children access a quality early care and education, regardless of their family’s income.
Access to quality early care and education is an important part of our efforts to make San Francisco more equitable, and ensure that every child who grows up here can thrive. We know:
- A disproportionate number of African American and Latino families with children live below the Federal Poverty Line and Self-Sufficiency Standard.
- Latino and African-American children are less likely to attend preschool than their White and Asian counterparts.*
- Children from low-income neighborhoods in San Francisco are also less likely to have high-quality, formal early childhood experiences than their higher-income counterparts, and they are entering the formal K-12 system already behind on kindergarten readiness scores.
Affording childcare is especially difficult for single parents, with single parent households making significantly less than dual-income households; and single female householders make less than single male householders.
What We Are Doing
To make San Francisco more Child, Youth, and Family Friendly we are:
- Opening 30 new childcare centers in neighborhoods across our entire city
- Providing over $30 million in stipends for early childcare educators
- Planning and hosting a Children and Youth Summit in 2020
All of this is on top of the work we are doing to implement the “Children and Families First” Initiative, which voters passed in 2014. I want to recognize Board President Norman Yee for his leadership on these initiatives, as he has really focused his time and energy on improving our early education system.
Opening More Child Care Centers
Child care should be convenient, affordable, and available in every neighborhood. As we’re building more housing in San Francisco, we need to make sure we’re also building more child care centers, and investing in the facilities we already have. Most recently, the Transbay Child Development Center opened in SoMa in the ground floor of a new affordable housing development, which will serve 60 kids, with at least 50% of them being from low-income families.
The new Center, coupled with new affordable housing, is a great example of what we need more of in this City — and we’re working to add more.
The construction costs for the center were provided by a City fund, called the Child Care Facilities Fund. The fund contributes to the cost of building and starting operations at child care centers, and there are over 30 more facilities that will be built throughout San Francisco over the coming years.
We also have programs in place to help families afford childcare the Early Learning Scholarship Program provides eligible families with financial assistance to pay for quality early care and education.
To find financial assistance for early care and education, visit the Early Learning SF website at: www.earlylearningsf.org
Increasing Pay for Early Childcare Educators
I know that San Francisco is an expensive place to live, and we need to make sure that our educators have the financial support necessary to continue living and working in our City. When it comes to paying rent and monthly bills, every dollar counts.
In October this year, I announced that the City would provide over $30 million over the next three years to support early care educators in San Francisco. About 2,500 educators who work with kids can apply for a stipend of ~$4,000 per calendar year.
While these stipends won’t solve all of our affordability challenges, they will certainly make it easier for our early childhood educators to afford living in San Francisco so that they can continue educating the next generation. We also know that many families in San Francisco depend on having access to affordable and high-quality childcare, and this stipend will help recruit and retain the providers that we need to keep offering the services that so many working families depend on.”
These stipends are in addition to the $10 million in stipends we’re giving to educations in K-12 high-potential schools.
Child and Youth Friendly City Initiative
We want every young person in San Francisco to know that this city is theirs and that we are here to support them. We’re joining a global movement to make cities around the world more welcoming to children and youth. That means listening to kids and teens as we make decisions that affect their lives and the places they spend time. To make sure we’re on the right track, we’ll develop a strategic framework and action plan, including concrete policy goals — and we’ll include youth along the way. In 2020, the City and the Our Children our Families Council will host a Children and Youth Summit to elevate the voices and needs of children, youth and their families, and provide an opportunity to learn about regional, state and national efforts to address the inequities that our most vulnerable populations experience.
*According to Portrait of School Readiness 2009–10: San Francisco Unified School District.
