Investing in San Francisco’s Children and Families

Mayor Breed has demonstrated unwavering commitment to children and families across San Francisco. Providing and expanding affordable childcare and early education is a cornerstone of making cities more affordable for all residents. Mayor Breed spearheaded the expansion of our City’s early education system and efforts to support early education centers in retaining existing educators and attracting new ones. Under her leadership, San Francisco has become a national leader in the early education and childcare movement, launching programs to expand child care centers, increase access for more families, and grow the employee pipeline.

Mayor Breed also led the development of a robust after school and summer programming network, and provided continuous support to the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). She led efforts to expand availability of mental health supports for students, increase educator pay in both the public school system, and launched a Citywide paid internship program to provide comprehensive professional development opportunities to young people. .

Born and raised in San Francisco and a product of SFUSD, Mayor Breed understands exactly what kids and families in San Francisco need to thrive. She has been a champion for youth and families, and left a lasting legacy in this arena.

Early Education

In 2022, Mayor Breed and Supervisor Melgar announced the creation of the Department of Early Childhood (DEC) to serve children under age six and their families. Through DEC, San Francisco has implemented a historic expansion of its early education network, a feat that has been nationally recognized for its success. During Mayor Breed’s tenure, a number of accomplishments include:

• Helped More Children into Care and Education: Doubled the number of children receiving early care and education subsidies annually (from 6,000 to 12,000)
• Increased Access to Care for Families: Cut the waitlist for subsidized early care and education by over 70%
• Expanded Early Education Centers Citywide: The City has built or renovated more than 40 early care and education facilities, creating space for 550 more children
• Supported a More Effective Workforce: Improved retention and recruitment by increasing salaries for over 1,600 educators, including a nearly 50% increase in salary for educators at highest need centers

COVID Response

While the pandemic was felt across the globe, COVID-19 took a particularly hard toll on school-aged children. The difficulties of distance learning were tangible, and had an impact on student learning, mental health, and socioemotional development. Locally and nationally during the pandemic, children, young people, and their families experienced unprecedented grief, isolation, trauma, financial and housing instability, learning loss, increased anxiety and depression, and delays in social and emotional mastery. Mayor Breed led our entire City through COVID with clear communication, tenacity, and courage. Her leadership had a positive impact on youth and families, when they needed her most.

• Learning Hubs: By the summer of 2020, to address the challenges associated with learning loss and support children and young people’s social-emotional wellbeing, Mayor Breed worked with the Department of Children, Youth, and their Families and the Department of Recreation and Parks and community organizations to establish 78 learning hubs across the city. The hubs supported the academic and social needs of over 2,500 young people.
• Early Education Recovery Programs: In January 2021, Mayor Breed announced an investment in the amount of $25 million for SF’s early care and education programs, to care for approximately 10,000 children across the city. These child care and education programs provide essential services for San Francisco families, and threw a lifeline to many early educators who were struggling financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Children and Family Recovery Plan (February 2022): Activating stakeholders and communities across the City, Mayor Breed led efforts to leverage resources and partnerships across multiple city agencies through her Children and Family Recovery Plan, which outlines how the City will work together to support children and families in recovering from the impacts of the pandemic. The Plan coordinates resources across the City, amplifies community voices, advances advocacy efforts, and creates a multi-year roadmap aimed at pandemic recovery. Mayor Breed’s plan uplifts the voices of youth and families, and fosters collaboration among city agencies in service of children, young people and their families who call San Francisco their home.

Programs to Support Youth and Families

Mayor Breed’s support for students and their families has been persistent and significant. Through the Department of Children, Youth, and Their Families, the City provides after school programming to more than 10,000 young people, and summer programming to more than 30,000. The City funds community-based organizations across San Francisco to provide a diverse array of enriched programming options. In addition, Mayor Breed has launched a number of programs to provide further, targeted support, including:

• Opportunities for All: In 2018, Mayor Breed launched Opportunities For All to address economic inequality by ensuring that young people (13–24) can be a part of the City’s economy. The program places young people into internships, training, and employment opportunities. It has helped thousands of young San Franciscans start careers and is especially important for low-income youth in the City. More than 3,000 youth apply for placements each year, and the program has successfully placed more than 10,000 young people in internships since its launch. 95% of the program’s applicants are young people of color.
• Bridge to Excellence Scholarship: In 2019, Mayor Breed launched the Bridge to Excellence Scholarship to inspire and encourage graduating seniors in San Francisco to pursue four-year, higher education degrees, and to give back to their community. In its sixth year, the City has awarded over $300,000 to students. Through this opportunity, Mayor Breed has helped 76 highly motivated, low-income, and first generation students to attend four-year colleges to jumpstart their future.
• Repaid Student Debt: Mayor Breed paid student debt for almost 11,000 City College students with the goal of removing the financial barriers students face and increasing access to educational opportunities.
• Housing for Transition Aged Youth: During her tenure, Mayor Breed created more than 200 new housing units for transition aged youth at risk of homelessness, with more than 60 more homes in the pipeline.
• Support for special education: Through unprecedented early childhood investments, Mayor Breed’s administration has implemented early screening for developmental delays or special needs for over 4,600 children before they enter the grade-school system so that they can access the individualized supports starting on their first day of school.

Support for San Francisco’s Public Schools

As a proud graduate of San Francisco’s public school system, Mayor Breed understands firsthand the opportunities that our schools create for the next generation to grow and thrive. This includes direct support for programs that support students. Almost one-third of SFUSD’s revenue comes from the Mayor’s budget, which accounts for an unprecedented amount of local funding compared to any school district in California. In addition to these funds, Mayor Breed has launched programs to expand

• Career Prep: Wanting to ensure that all students are set up for post-secondary success, Mayor Breed funded career preparation and early college programs at SFUSD. The initiative provides SFUSD students with free tuition and textbooks to rigorous early college programs starting in the 10th grade, college prep and internship opportunities, and enables students to earn college credits while fulfilling high school graduation requirements.
• Increasing Teacher Pay: In 2019, in efforts to address the statewide and national teachers shortage head on, Mayor Breed provided $10 million in teacher stipends to attract high-quality educators to teach at SF’s highest need schools and retain talent in SF public schools classrooms. Additionally, when previous approved parcel tax funds were being held due to ongoing litigation, Mayor Breed placed Proposition J on the ballot in 2020 to reaffirm the public and city’s support for funding key SFUSD priorities including academic programs, increased educator and paraeducator salaries, professional development for staff, and other programming.
• Educator Housing: To further support public educators in San Francisco, Mayor Breed helped bring to fruition educator housing projects like Shirley Chisholm Village. Shirley Chisholm Village prioritizes SFUSD educators and employees for the 135 affordable housing units for families and individuals.
• Graduations for All: Since 2021, Mayor Breed has prioritized and sponsored all SFUSD high school graduations. To ensure every graduating high school senior has an equitable and memorable experience, the City supports these events so that almost 4,000 high school students every year can celebrate their milestone at Kezar Stadium and Jerry Garcia Amphitheater in McLaren Park.
• Student Success Fund: Mayor Breed supported the Student Success Fund, which infuses an additional $60 million per year for community schools. Through the DCYF, the City partners with SFUSD to provide additional resources that support students in achieving grade-level academic success and enhance social-emotional well-being of all SFUSD students.
• Mental Health and Well-Being: Mayor Breed invested in student wellness and mental health support. She spearheaded the creation of wellness centers at SFUSD schools across the city to address the social-emotional needs of SFUSD students as they transitioned back to school and recover from the pandemic.