Social Safety Net Programs Play a Critical Role in Keeping Children and Families Out of Poverty

By Lauren Wagner
Associate Director of Research, Data & Evaluation

At Children’s Council, we have a deep understanding of the complex challenges facing families in our community and how they intersect with quality, affordable child care. One primary example is food insecurity. One in three families who come through our doors report that they are experiencing food insecurity, or have faced a situation where they did not have access to enough food to meet their needs and preferences. 

One in three families who come through our doors report that they are experiencing food insecurity.

Social safety net programs like CalWORKS, MediCal, CalFresh and Child Tax Credits are essential for lifting families and children out of poverty and improving their health and educational outcomes. These programs support families with critical and often immediate needs like food, housing, diapers and  infant formula¹.

We know what it means to need a little extra help to meet the most basic needs for our community’s families and children. Every day we see firsthand how participating in CalWORKS helps a family pay for child care that meets their needs and feels right for their child.

Together with our community’s early educators, Children’s Council ensures that  800,000+ healthy meals are served annually at child care sites to children of low-income families, easing the stress of household food insecurity.

We also support children and families in the Child Protective Services system and other high-need families to secure extra child care supports and trauma-informed services.

Safety net programs are critical to families with young children, and even more so for low-income families of color who face additional barriers and inequities.

Children’s Council aims to ensure that all children have the opportunity to thrive, and that race/ethnicity not be a predictor of child outcomes.

Social safety net programs allow us to dismantle systemic racism and remove roadblocks to family stability.

Recent data shows that pandemic-related enhancements to CalFresh and the Child Tax Credit moved millions of children out of poverty. Child poverty in California was at 9.0% in 2021, a steep decrease from 17.6% in 2019³. Increases to monthly CalFresh allotments and overall costs calculations alone kept 1 million Californians out of poverty between 2019 and 2021⁴.

A temporary expansion of the federal Child Tax Credit provided monthly payments to families with children and helped reduce financial burdens during COVID-19. This short-term enhancement moved 380,000 children out of poverty and quickly lowered the poverty rate.

The expanded Child Tax Credit ended in December 2021 – an abrupt change for many families. In the last year, poverty rates have already begun rising; an estimated 3.7 million children are estimated to have fallen back into poverty across the U.S. in early 2022⁵.  

In the last year, poverty rates have already begun rising; an estimated 3.7 million children are estimated to have fallen back into poverty across the U.S. in early 2022.⁵ 

The last few years have provided further proof that safety net programs are effective in reducing child poverty, giving families the support they need to remove barriers and increase stability. Keeping 1.7 million children out of poverty during pandemic years is a huge accomplishment!²

Our policy decisions have the power to quickly and effectively mitigate the effects of poverty on children and their families, particularly children of color.

Now we must deepen, rather than diminish, the social safety net for our children.

As advocates, parents and safety net providers, it is our obligation to take action and invest further in a broader and more permanent social safety net. While Congress looks unlikely to include the Child Tax Credit in their 2023 omnibus appropriations bill, we can’t stop making the case for critical investments for children that we know work.

Join us in the fight for our community’s children and families!

You can make a difference in the lives of our city’s children, families and early educators. Click here to make a donation to Children’s Council now!

Click here to learn more about Children’s Council’s advocacy work and to sign up for our advocacy email list today.

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Sources:

1) https://www.capolicylab.org/topics/social-safety-net/

2) https://www.ppic.org/blog/steep-declines-in-child-poverty-have-been-driven-by-safety-net-programs/

3) https://www.ppic.org/publication/poverty-in-california/

4) https://www.cafoodbanks.org/blog/social-safety-net-programs-drive-down-poverty-in-california/

5) https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/lowest-income-californians-lose-as-federal-child-tax-credit-expansion-ends/

2022 City Kids Family Fair Wrap-Up

By Jessica Boehme-Flores, Senior Manager, Family & Caregiver Education

What a beautiful and FUN day it was for our annual City Kids Family Fair held on Saturday, October 22, 2022 in the Mission.

Hundreds of children and their families enjoyed seeing the Lion Dance, doing yoga, playing games, making bubbles and crafts and hugging Elmo!

See all the fun event photos in our Facebook album.

Parents received free bags of fresh produce, a box of diapers and valuable resources from a full range community organizations. The San Francisco Fire Department made an appearance with their fire truck, and we even had COVID vaccinations and boosters available on site!

Scroll down to see all of our raffle winners, performers, special guests, community partners

——

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR RAFFLE WINNERS!  

Stephanie Y. – Grand Prize: four tickets to opening night of SF Ballet’s Nutcracker

Anna R. – tickets to Curiodyssey

Albert C. –  tickets to the Lawrence Hall of Science

Sheena M. – tickets to the Walt Disney Family Museum

Danielle C. – CVS Gift Card

Darla W. – tickets to American Conservatory Theatre

Estefani P. – tickets to Children’s Creativity Museum

Peixian X. – tickets to the San Francisco Zoo

Ronald Y. – a night of family fun at Presidio Bowling

Esther M – tickets to Oakland Zoo

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THANK YOU:  

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Government Officials in attendance: 

State Sen Scott Wiener  

Ingrid Mezquita, San Francisco Department of Early Childhood  

Supervisor Connie Chan  

Supervisor Myrna Melgar  

Supervisor Gordon Mar 

—–

Sponsors: 

Holy Family Day Home  

Safeway Foundation  

Bright Horizons  

Children’s Day School  

Pacific Primary  

San Francisco Health Plan 

FACES SF 

Stella Maris Academy  

Help A Mother Out  

San Francisco Public Library

Performers: 

JAMaROO Kids  

It’s Yoga Kids  

United Studios of Self Defense 

—–

Raffle Donors: 

American Conservatory Theater  

Bay Area Discovery Museum  

Children’s Creativity Museum  

CuriOdyssey  

CVS Pharmacy 

Lawrence Hall of Science  

Oakland Zoo  

San Francisco Zoo  

Presidio Bowl  

San Francisco Ballet  

San Francisco Giants  

The Walt Disney Family Museum 

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Community Partners: 

Compass Family Services  

Children’s Environmental Health Network  

Family Connections  

Family Support Services  

Kai Ming  

Kindergarten to College  

The Little School  

Mission Neighborhood Health Center / Head Start  

San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department  

Stem Frenzy / African American Early Childhood Educators  

Support of Families  

Wu Yee Children’s Services  

YMCA of San Francisco 

Thank you to all our friends, families, supporters, partners, and especially ELMO in making this our best-ever City Kids Family Fair!

—–

New COVID vaccine and booster updates for children

By Lauren Wagner, Associate Director of Research, Data & Evaluation

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now recommends everyone ages 6 MONTHS and older get vaccinated against COVID-19 to prevent serious illness.

Additionally, for added protection, everyone 5 YEARS and older should get a COVID-19 booster, if eligible. Most people are now eligible for the new “two-strain” (bivalent) booster dose.

According to the CDC, the updated boosters are called “bivalent” because they protect against both the original virus that causes COVID-19 and the Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5. The virus that causes COVID-19 has changed over time. The different versions of the virus that have developed over time are called variants.

Please see our new articles in the Help Center for further information:
How can I get the COVID-19 vaccination?
When and where can my child get vaccinated against COVID-19? Are they eligible for a booster?

24 New Black Early Educators Graduate and Secure Jobs

By Director of Quality Business Supports Je Ton Carey
and Chief Advancement Officer Amie Latterman

“Learning about child development, working with an all-Black cohort, having a Black professor, changed my vision about what’s possible in [San Francisco].” — Pipeline Program Graduate

On Friday, August 5, 2022, we celebrated the graduation of our first-ever Pipeline for Black Early Childhood Educators, Career Development Cohort, an innovative new component of our BizNest suite of services for early educators.

Mayor London Breed, a host of city and community leaders and many family and friends joined us at the Bayview Opera House to honor these incredible educators who have completed our intensive collaborative program with City College of San Francisco, funded by the Mayor’s Dream Keeper Initiative. These individuals are going to make a real impact on the children and families of San Francisco!

Click here to view the full photo album from this inspiring event on our Facebook page.

Decades of data now prove that we are failing our Black children and families: two out of three children in San Francisco are “ready” for kindergarten, but only one in three Black children reach those same social-emotional and child development benchmarks in time for school.

Systemic racism drives much of this disparity. In cooperation with other community partners, Children’s Council aims to drive change through our efforts to strengthen the Pipeline to Career Pathways for Black Early Educators.

This program was also made possible with the support of the Office of Economic & Workforce Development, the Bainum Family Foundation and the Walter & Elise Haas Fund.

Building a strong pipeline of qualified Black early care educators is a critical component to addressing the achievement and equity gap that persists for our Black children.

The Need

Early educators who care for children during their infancy and toddler years are a critical part of the child care workforce. Some work in child care classrooms, while others care for children out of home-based businesses.

No matter the setting, the career path needs are similar: as early educators advance in experience, engage in professional training or start a child care business of their own, they earn more.

While entry-level jobs that require little training pay minimum wage, many early care and education (ECE) jobs allow workers to earn $50,000 – $90,000 a year. These career pathways have traditionally opened opportunities for women of color, immigrant women and mothers returning to the workforce.

Yet, ECE career pipeline and pathways are not always clear, and barriers to success abound.

Children’s Council of San Francisco has successfully piloted an unencumbered path for prospective Black early educators to pursue an ECE career.

Furthermore, research shows that participation in high-quality child care has a higher economic payoff—for children, working families and even grandchildren—than any other policy aimed at struggling families.

For every dollar communities invest in high-quality ECE, they can expect up to an $18 return in the form of long-term savings in educational interventions, healthcare, job training, social services and criminal justice costs.¹

Yet, for low-income families to reap these benefits, high-quality child care must be affordable and available. Unfortunately, San Francisco faces a severe shortage of quality child care for children younger than preschool-age, with only enough licensed child care capacity to serve approximately 15% of infants.

Of San Francisco’s approximately 1,200 Black or African American children receiving child care subsidies from the government, only 51% attend a licensed child care or preschool facility.² The remaining 49% are in the care of family, friends or neighbors, most often caring individuals who have little in the way of child development knowledge or training.

The shortage of trained ECE professionals has resulted in a workforce crisis.

One 2017 analysis by the SF Office of Early Care and Education estimated that over 33% of ECE programs do not have enough teachers and staff to enroll as many children as desired.³

This trend is intensified in neighborhoods where families most need affordable child care, often the same neighborhoods that have higher concentrations of Black residents. 

And, while 30% of the city’s children who are in subsidized child care (meaning they are our most vulnerable children and from largely low-income families) are Black, only 7-9% of ECE professionals or post-secondary ECE students in San Francisco are Black,⁴ and only 8% of those serving kids in SF’s public ECE system are Black.⁵

It’s important to note that limited public funding and supply constrain access to care for many more Black children who live in households that qualify for child care subsidies; these kids remain on a waiting list for subsidies. Estimates say that 80% of all SF Black children ages 0-11 live in households that qualify for such subsidies. 

Why does this prevent equitable access to child development opportunities for Black children?

First, Black children don’t have the opportunity to see aspects of themselves reflected in their classroom teachers. Their self-esteem is augmented by exposure to strong role models; and, all children, regardless of race, benefit from experiencing diversity in their classrooms.

Secondly, early educators largely lack access to training to provide trauma-informed, culturally competent and anti-racist care that would support them as they care for Black children experiencing the effects of generational poverty and systemic racism.⁶ One prominently understood outcome of that is that Black preschoolers are more likely to be suspended than their white peers.⁷

Quality early care prepares children for school and for life.

Cutting-edge brain research by experts such as Dr. Nadine Burke-Harris tells us that nurturing caregivers act as a positive buffer, protecting children from the effects of exposure to childhood adversity, including abuse and neglect, domestic violence, parental mental illness or parental substance abuse.⁸

Our Solution

At Children’s Council of San Francisco, in collaboration with partners in the Black early educator community and Community College of San Francisco Early Education Department members, we’ve successfully piloted an integrated series of interventions to achieve the outcomes outlines below. 

Pipeline

• Identified post-secondary students’ needs to develop responsive programming to structure culturally relevant educational offerings and to create mentorship opportunities for students. 
• Collaborated with City College of San Francisco to offer community-based and/or virtual ECE coursework underwritten, commissioned and hosted by Children’s Council. 
• Recruited Black students into City College ECE courses, supporting them with stipends as well as coaches to help them navigate barriers to staying enrolled and earning their degree.
• Supported apprenticeship placements in different child care settings across the city.

Career

• Supported job placement with our network of 1,000+ early care and education licensed sites, including family child care homes, child care centers, Head Start classrooms, Early Head Start programs, San Francisco Unified School District classrooms and others
• Empowered prospective Black early educators to secure a child care license and launch their own Family Child Care (home-based) businesses via our innovative Child Care Business Incubator program.
• Offered stipends to recently graduated early educators as they establish themselves in the field.
• Assisted early educators to access wage enhancements, supplemental training, mental health resources and other benefits available to them if they care for children with a child care subsidy, via successful application to the San Francisco Early Learning System (ELS) or CA State subsidy systems.

Outcomes

• Increase the number of Black ECE professionals in San Francisco.
• Increase the skills of ECE professionals to provide trauma-informed, culturally competent and anti-racist care.
• Increase the percentage of Black children in San Francisco who are kindergarten-ready.
• Increase the rate at which Black children reach developmental milestones “on time.”

Accomplishments to date

What’s Next?

Our second 2022-23 Cohort Year 1 Apprenticeship has already begun! We’re bringing in 44 more prospective Black early educators to a 10-month program to earn the higher education units and peer-support networks needed to be successful in their ECE careers. Supportive job placement coaching will ensure they pursue a pathway to the classroom, on to higher educational achievement or launch their own Family Child Care business.

We know that the peer support and extra mentorship for our first, recently graduated cohort will be critical, so we are also launching a 2021-22 Cohorts’ Year 2 Fellowship for those individuals wanting a continued support structure as they launch their careers.

Finally, Children’s Council aims to adapt our program model with other demographic groups, and to scale our programmatic services by leveraging partnerships with other sister organizations around the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond.

Contact Je Ton Carey to learn more about how to bring the Pipeline to your own community: jcarey@childrenscouncil.org.

Sources

^[1] http://www.heckmanequation.org

^[2] https://sfoece.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Needs-Assessment-2017-FINAL.pdf

^[3] https://sfoece.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Needs-Assessment-2017-FINAL.pdf

^[4] https://sfoece.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Needs-Assessment-2017-FINAL.pdf

^[5] Compensation and Retention Early Educator Stipend Program: CARES 2.0 Spring Databook, San Francisco Office of Early Care & Education, Spring 2020 Summary.

^[6] Milner, H.R. (2006). “The Promise of Black Teachers’ Success with Black Students”. Educational Foundations, Summer-Fall 2006. Kisida, Brian; Winters, Marcus A. (2015). “Representation in the Classroom: The Effect of Own-Race Teachers on Student Achievement”. Economics of Education Review

^[7] https://edsource.org/2021/why-california-needs-to-ban-preschool-suspensions-and-expulsions-experts-say/646049

^[8] https://centerforyouthwellness.org/health-impacts/

Big wins for SF families struggling with food insecurity

By Raegan Sales
Healthy Apple Program Coordinator, Children’s Council

We are so excited to announce some recent big wins for San Francisco families with young children and their caregivers!

Food insecurity in America has increased during the pandemic, especially in households with young children. Sadly, one in four San Francisco residents are at risk of hunger due to low income.

Knowing that little ones enrolled in child care programs often receive the majority of their meals while in child care, Children’s Council has been hard at work throughout the pandemic to ensure our child care educators have affordable access to healthy meals for the kids in their care.

Locally, Children’s Council worked in partnership with SF Child Care Planning and Advisory Council, San Francisco Food Security Task Force, Shape Up San Francisco and the San Francisco ECE Advocacy Coalition in securing $1 million ($500,000 from the Board of Supervisors and $500,000 from the Mayor’s Office) annually to support educators providing healthy meals to children experiencing food insecurity enrolled in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) for the next two years, allowing us to reimburse child care providers closer to the full cost they spend on food.

At the federal level, reimbursement rates for child care and preschool meals have temporarily increased as of July 1. Furthermore, the Keep Kids Fed Act has also leveled the playing field for all children, ensuring all family child care programs, regardless of their geographic location, are reimbursed at the same rate through July 1, 2023.

These federal investments, coupled with our most recent local CACFP budget win, will transform access to quality meals for young children. In a high-cost city like San Francisco, where food is expensive for everyone, we’ve been advocating for universal meal reimbursement rates for years – this is a big win!

This extraordinary funding is a direct result of relentless education and advocacy work by parents and community members supported by organizers and staff, who attended numerous meetings with Supervisors and spent hours following up with Supervisors and their staff, both in-person and virtually. On “add-back day” we were at City Hall advocating for this funding until 1am!

Big, positive outcomes like this come from the great individual and collaborative efforts of Children’s Council staff, particularly our Public Policy Communications and Health & Nutrition teams who worked hand-in-hand with the San Francisco Food Security Task Force.

This is a huge new local investment in CACFP, let’s celebrate all the work that went into it!

To learn more and get involved in our child care and nutrition advocacy work, click here to sign up for our Advocacy and Public Policy email list!

Early Educators: Deadline for CPR Reimbursement is June 22

CPR Reimbursement Deadline

If you are a licensed child care provider in San Francisco, the deadline to apply for CPR reimbursement classes is Wednesday, June 22 at midnight. You must have attended classes between July 1, 2021 and now. Please submit a receipt and proof of completion for the class, and a completed W9 tax form along with the application. Click here to download the application.

Fecha límite de reembolso de CPR

Si es un proveedor de cuidado infantil con licencia en San Francisco, la fecha límite para solicitar clases de reembolso de CPR es el miércoles 22 de junio a la medianoche. Debe haber asistido a clases entre el 1 de julio de 2021 y ahora. Envíe un recibo y prueba de finalización de la clase, y un formulario de impuestos W9 completo junto con la solicitud. Haz click aqui para descargar la aplicación.

心肺復蘇術報銷期限

如果您是舊金山有執照的托兒服務提供者，申請 CPR 課程報銷的截止日期是 6 月 22 日星期三午夜。 您必須參加過的課程在 2021 年 7 月 1 日至现在。 請連同申請表一起, 提交收據和課程完成證明，以及填妥的 W9 稅表。 單擊此處下載應用程序。

Advocacy Team Attends Inspiring National Child Care Conference 

By Alexander Maykowski 
Public Policy Communications Associate, Children’s Council of San Francisco 

In early May, I joined our Advocacy team at the Child Care Aware Symposium in Arlington, VA. As someone new to the Early Care & Education (ECE) arena – I started at Children’s Council in November 2021 — I was excited for the opportunity to hear and learn from the seasoned parents, educators and advocates who would be attending. 

What I learned could fill notebooks, but a big takeaway for me was a sense of urgency: now is the time to push forward for early care & education (ECE).

The pandemic shined a light on the critical importance of child care. We heard about many states that are moving forward with progressive policies increasing access to care. Build Back Better showed that child care is on the national radar. We must seize this moment to build coalitions, stress the economic importance of early education and strike while the iron is hot. 

Another key takeaway for me is that Children’s Council and the city of San Francisco are ahead of the game from an ECE advocacy standpoint. 

Our Senior Director of Public Policy Communication Naeemah Charles was a part of a panel discussion. During the talk, a nonprofit CEO heard what Children’s Council has accomplished with Baby Prop C and the Dream Keeper Initiative and said she was inspired to find the funding for dedicated advocacy staff. While many nonprofits advocate for child care in their own way, they do not have dedicated staff to do so.

Our President/CEO Dr. Gina Fromer also facilitated a well-attended presentation – ”How can we shift power in Early Childhood Education?” – focusing on our Pipeline for Black Early Childhood Educator Career Development program.

Among the many informative keynote speakers, Indra Nooyi, former CEO of Pepsi Co., was particularly inspiring. She spoke about how integral child care is and was to her success, the importance of reaching across the aisle, bringing in people from the business world and building a coalition to move child care legislation forward. She encouraged us to “put in the work and be optimistic about the future.” 

Indra’s words really hit home for me. The time to act is now. Meeting and listening to all of the amazing child care champions who were at the symposium inspires me and is tangible confirmation that we have a real movement going on. 

Join us in our advocacy efforts for our city’s children, families and early educators – let’s put in the work!  

Click here to learn more about how you can get involved.  

2022 Child Care Champions Showcase + Auction: A Rousing Success!

By Gina Fromer
CEO, Children’s Council of San Francisco

I’m still basking in the glow of our amazing sixth annual Child Care Champions Showcase + Auction on Friday, April 22, 2022. What an incredibly inspiring and successful event! 

Everywhere I looked I saw someone I wanted to just run up to and hug, it felt like a family reunion! Everyone was so happy to see each other, to hear our fantastic speakers, watch our inspiring videos, get to know our staff and meet a few families and educators whose lives have been impacted by Children’s Council. The stories were so moving, many tears of joy and inspiration were shed. 

I’m happy to report that we had over 225 attendees and surpassed our fundraising goal to bring in over $220,000 in funds for our programs. I want to once again congratulate our two honorees: our 2022 Patty Siegel Child Care Champion Lisa Lee and our 2022 Family Child Care Provider Champion Leticia Ornelas.

We had more city leaders attend our event than ever before, including SF Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton, Board of Supervisors members Hillary Ronen, Rafael Mandelman and Ahsha Safai, as well as former Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee, City Attorney David Chiu, Board of Education Commissioner Jenny Lam, and many more. I’m especially grateful to Mayor London Breed, whose rousing speech got us all so excited.

Also in attendance were Children’s Council board members, Associate Board members and members of our Women’s Business Leadership Council. Also on hand were numerous past honorees, child care providers, Parent Voices volunteers, lots of friends and family members, sponsors, donors, wonderful speakers from our program staff and a big team of volunteers who worked so hard to made this ambitious program run seamlessly. 

If you were unable to join us, check out our 2022 Family Child Care Provider Champion video, featuring Leticia Ornelas, our collaborative video with the Family Child Care Association of San Francisco, and a recording of our keynote speaker, bestselling author Dr. Emily Oster.

You can also see a sampling of photos from the day on our Facebook page.

We could not have produced this event without the support of our generous sponsors (see below for a full list).

Finally, I want to thank all of our attendees, who so generously opened their hearts – and their pocketbooks – during our lively auction and fund-a-need live bidding. The past two years have been hard, but it’s your generosity and commitment to our city’s children, families and early educators that inspires all of us at Children’s Council to keep going every day!

Sincerely,

Gina Fromer
CEO, Children’s Council of San Francisco

Autism Awareness Month

By Margarita Spataro
Children’s Council Child Care Business Coach

April is Autism Awareness Month and I would like to share why this month is so important to me.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1 in 44 eight-year-old children have been identified with autism spectrum disorder. There is no known cure or treatment for autism and that is why acceptance and awareness are so key.

I am the mother of a beautiful six-year-old girl, Angelina, who has autism, a severe speech delay and other global delays. I had a very smooth pregnancy with my daughter Angelina. She met most of her developmental milestones up until 18 months. She was able to say “mama” when she was six months old.

As she hit the two-year mark I noticed she had a very limited vocabulary. She would point to things she wanted and exclaim, “ya, ya, ya, ya!” Her vocabulary was very limited, less than ten words, but she was still able to communicate by using hand gestures and pointing. I wasn’t too worried; my nephew had grown out of his speech delay, and you can’t get him to stop talking now.

Through my experience working in after school programs, I knew I could find support for her speech delay through Golden Gate Regional Center (GGRC). I scheduled an evaluation to see if she qualified for early intervention services and speech therapy. 

On the day of her evaluation, the speech pathologist said to me, “She will definitely qualify for speech services, but you may also want to get her evaluated for autism.” 

I was not prepared to hear that, and my heart sank. I had so many questions and thoughts racing through my mind. 

After further evaluations, it was determined that my daughter had other global delays and a severe speech delay. I asked the caseworker, “What do you mean by global delays?” He replied, “Angelina might need more support doing things for herself and she may have an intellectual disability, but she is too young to determine that now. The good news is she does qualify for services through the Lanternman Act.”

Being the parent of a child with special needs comes with many challenges, and it is critical to get support as soon as you can, but there are resources for families. If you suspect your child has a developmental delay, consult your pediatrician as early as possible. 

My daughter is now six years old and has the cognitive development of a one-and-a-half-year-old. She requires special support to thrive in this world. Navigating services for a child with special needs can feel like a full-time job, but there is help and support through community-based organizations such as GGRC and Support for Families.

Here at Children’s Council, our Family Support Navigators provide coaching to all families through their child care search process, including families with children like my daughter. We are committed to helping families remove barriers to accessing quality child care that meets their unique needs. Additionally, our navigators support families by connecting parents to other resources in the community such as food, parenting classes and much more. To learn more, call 415.343.3300 or email us at rr@childrenscouncil.org. 

Autism is not an obvious disability. As a parent of child with autism and special needs, I can tell you that some days are overwhelming. However, there are organizations to get support and that’s the most important thing you can do. If you would like to learn more about local resources for autism, UCSF has an excellent list of Advocacy and Support Services.

Announcing our 2022 Child Care Champion Honorees

This year, we are proud to honor Lisa Lee, for lifetime achievement in the early care and education field, and Leticia Ornelas, founder and director of Manos de Angel Daycare in San Francisco’s Bayview community,

Join in the celebration of these two amazing community members at our Child Care Champions Showcase + Auction, on April 22 at the Four Seasons Hotel!

Read Lisa’s bio >

Read Leticia’s bio >

Children’s Council Appoints Claudia Quiñonez Chief Strategy & Impact Officer

Children’s Council of San Francisco is pleased to announce that Claudia Quiñonez will be stepping into the role of Chief Strategy & Impact Officer. Claudia brings over 15 years of experience in nonprofit management to our Executive Leadership team.

Over the course of her 13-year tenure with Children’s Council, Claudia has served in numerous roles including Resource & Referral department manager, Director of Community Impact & Innovation, and most recently, Senior Director of Research, Data and Evaluation.

Claudia holds a B.A. in Public Relations and Communications, and certifications in Dialogue Education, Design Thinking and Project Management. She began her career in the nonprofit field over 20 years ago, first serving families and children in San Salvador, Central America before moving to San Francisco.

As a Bay Area resident, Claudia is actively involved with community organizations, and currently serves as Board President a SFUSD public charter school that serves the Mission District and surrounding neighborhoods. Claudia, her husband and two children spend most of their weekends outdoors at soccer games.

Black/African American Family Friend & Neighbor Care Institute

A program to support African American/Black families and friends caring for children 0-5

Be part of the movement to increase access to warm, supportive, quality child care to Black children in San Francisco by joining our Family Friend & Neighbor Care Institute. 

Children’s Council is seeking African American family members, friends and neighbors who are interested in learning about early childhood development, while getting support on the pathway to opening your own home-based family child care program.

You can help:

• Increase the number of African American early educators in San Francisco
• Improve outcomes for African American children
• Build a strong support system for African American families, educators and young children

How it works:

• Attend free monthly workshops (February – June 2023)
• Obtain resources and Play & Learn materials 
• Get support from an experienced licensed family child care provider-mentor
• Receive a stipend upon successful completion of all FFN Care Institute activities 

In order to participate in this program you must:

• Be a Black/African American person currently caring for a child age 0-8
• Be a resident of San Francisco and/or caring for a child age 0-8 who resides in San Francisco
• Meet once a month with a mentor
• Attend an Orientation and all FFN Care Institute Workshops 

To apply for the Spring 2023 FFN Care Institute, click here.

For more information blackeceteam@childrenscouncil.org

Children’s Council staff member brings life experience to her work with SF Black educators

By Margarita Spataro
Child Care Business Coach, Children’s Council

My name is Margarita and I am a Child Care Business Coach at Children’s Council. Every day I work with with women who want to launch home-based family child care businesses in San Francisco. For the past six months my focus has been a special project under the Mayor’s Dream Keeper Initiative to develop intentional services for Black and African American early childhood educators in San Francisco.

Our mission is to support new Black early care educators and to help sustain and grow established Black child care providers in our community. I am extremely proud to be a part of this endeavor. Black families in San Francisco critically need more quality child care programs that are owned and operated by Black and African-American educators. Representation is important.

I am the mother of two children who are bi-racial. When I was looking for child care for my son, I received a child care subsidy voucher and my only option at the time was at a Chinese bilingual child care site. It was a wonderful program, but I was concerned if my son would be accepted by the other children. I worried that he would feel out of place. It took him a while to adjust to the program.

In his child care program, he learned to speak and sing in Cantonese. I appreciated what he learned and the exposure to another culture, but I still asked myself, “What if I had more choices? What would his experience have been like with children who looked more like him, and an educator who resembled his grandmother?” When it was time for him to begin kindergarten he was ready, but I did my best to find a school with more diversity.

At Children’s Council, we launched our program under the Dream Keeper Initiative in July 2021 with a mission to support families just like mine. We conducted focus groups and a needs survey of Black child care educators in San Francisco, to help us align our work with the needs of the community. We are continuing to develop our program and expand our services to reach more individuals.

If you’re an early educator or thinking about opening a child care business, check out our Family Child Care Fundamentals series launching February 17. These workshops, brought to you by BizNest at Children’s Council, are designed to help new Family Child Care (FCC) owners launch businesses and to support existing FCC owners in strengthening their businesses.

Our grant under the Mayor’s Dream Keeper Initiative allows us to provide even more comprehensive support and services to Black educators in San Francisco. If you are interested in learning more about our program, attending our workshops or receiving a 1-on-1 consultation about your FCC, please visit our website or email Damina Bellot or Margarita Spataro.

An Urgent Message for Child Care Programs

Spanish and Chinese translation below | Más abajo se encuentra la traducción en español | 下面有西班牙文和中文翻譯

Hello child caregivers,

As you know, cases of COVID-19 – in large part due to the Omicron variant – are spreading quickly in San Francisco and across the country. Cases among children are rising and many child care programs and classrooms are having to close due to positive cases and/or exposure; all of this on top of lower child enrollments many programs have experienced for almost two years.

You or your family members may be ill, and you may be experiencing feelings of fear or helplessness due to financial hardship and stress.

But please remember: as we have been from the beginning of the pandemic, Children’s Council is here to support you.

We may not have all of the answers at this time, but we will do everything in our power to provide you with the support you need.

For programs who care for children with subsidies, rest assured that your program will retain funding. Click here to learn about how to ensure income from subsidized children remains steady. 

If you care for children and are being affected by this latest wave, and are encountering other unexpected costs as a result, there are resources available to help you weather this storm. Click here to learn what is available.

If you need additional information or to let us know that your program is closed, give us a call at 415.343.4669 or email support@childrenscouncil.org.

Although we expect to receive a high volume of calls and inquiries in the coming days, please know that we are working as quickly as possible to support you.

For decades, San Francisco’s our child care community has risen to the challenge and shown great resiliency during extremely tough circumstances. Please lean on us during this challenging time – we will get through this together.

In strength and solidarity,
Children’s Council

Hola cuidadores de niños,

Como saben, los casos de COVID-19, en gran parte debido a la variante Omicron, se están propagando rápidamente en San Francisco y en todo el país.

Los casos entre los niños están aumentando y muchos programas de cuidado infantil y salones de clases están teniendo que cerrar debido a casos positivos y/o por exposición; todo esto además de la disminución en las inscripciones de niños que muchos programas han experimentado durante casi dos años. Usted o los miembros de su familia pueden estar enfermos y pueden estar experimentando sentimientos de miedo o impotencia debido a dificultades financieras y estrés.

Pero por favor recuerden: como lo hemos estado desde el comienzo de la pandemia, el Children’s Council está aquí para apoyarlos. Es posible que no tengamos todas las respuestas en este momento, pero haremos todo lo que esté a nuestro alcance para brindarle el apoyo que necesita.

Para los programas que cuidan a niños con subsidios, tenga la seguridad de que su programa retendrá los fondos. Haga clic aquí para obtener información sobre cómo garantizar que los ingresos de los niños subsidiados se mantengan estables. 

Si cuida a los niños y se ve afectado por esta última ola, y se encuentra con otros costos inesperados como resultado, hay recursos disponibles para ayudarlo a capear esta tormenta. Haga clic aquí para ver lo que está disponible.

Si necesita información adicional o informarnos que su programa está cerrado, llámenos al 415.343.4669 o envíenos un correo electrónico a support@childrenscounci.org.   

Aunque esperamos recibir un gran volumen de llamadas y consultas en los próximos días, tenga en cuenta que estamos trabajando lo más rápido posible para apoyarlos. 

Durante décadas, nuestra comunidad de cuidado infantil de San Francisco ha estado a la altura del desafío y ha demostrado una gran resilencia durante circunstancias extremadamente difíciles. Por favor, apóyese en nosotros durante este momento difícil, superaremos esto juntos. 

En fuerza y solidaridad,
Children’s Council

哈囉兒童照護者們，

正如大家知道，新冠病毒的案情──有相當部份是因為Omicron異體所致──現在正迅速在三藩市和全國各地散播。
孩子傳染上新冠病毒的案情正在增加，很多托兒計劃和課室均因為出現案情及／或曝險而需要關閉；所有這些，加上較低的兒童入學率，正是很多計劃近兩年所經驗到的。你或你的家人可能有病，而你可能體驗到因為經濟困難及壓力而感到恐懼或無助。但請記住：從疫情開始以來，兒童委會員一直在此支持大家。我們可能在這個時候沒有所有的答案，但我們將盡力為你提供所需的支援。

對照顧有補助兒童的計劃，請放心你的計劃會繼續收到資助。請按此處了解有關確保補助兒童計劃收入穩定的詳情 。
如你照顧兒童並因為最近新一波疫情而受到影響，並且出現其他未曾預料得到的費用，有資源可提供幫助，安全渡過此困境。請按此處了解提供的資源。

如你需要額外資料或告訴我們你的計劃已關閉，請來電415.343.4669或發電郵至support@childrenscouncil.org。

雖然我們預期會收到大量的來電和查詢，請明白我們會儘快找出支援你的方法。數十年年來，三藩市的托兒群體一直面對挑戰但在極端的情況下，均展現極大的應彈力。在此挑戰性的期間你可依靠我們－讓我們一起渡過此困境。
保持力量，團結一致兒童委員會謹啟