Workforce Compensation Initiative Provides Critical Financial Support for SF Early Educators
The Workforce Compensation Initiative (WCI) — which launched in Fall 2022 after many years of planning and community input by the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood (DEC), First 5 San Francisco (now merged with DEC) and the San Francisco Child Care Planning and Advisory Council (CPAC) — is making significant strides in improving the quality of child care in San Francisco.
The WCI focuses on providing financial support to Early Care and Education (ECE) providers, ensuring that they are able to pay their staff a living wage and retain qualified educators.
Children’s Council administers these critical funds, in close partnership with DEC. So far this fiscal year, $52 million in wage enhancements have been issued across the City and County of San Francisco, reaching thousands of early educators.
This ongoing initiative has been made possible in part by funding from Baby Prop C, a tax on commercial property leases and subleases with annual gross receipts over $1 million. The revenue generated from this tax has been earmarked for expanding professional development pathways and other capacity-building programs, including the WCI, to stabilize the educator workforce and ensure SF young children have access to high-quality child care.
Throughout the “Week of the Young Child” (April 2-8), the San Francisco Board of Supervisors visited child care sites across the 11 districts of the city to showcase the benefits of the WCI and Baby Prop C funding. Each Supervisor toured a child care site in their district to learn about how beneficial these initiatives have been for early educators in their respective communities. Visits were organized by CPAC, and Children’s Council participated as a CPAC member.
Click here to see photos from the Board of Supervisors child care site visits on Facebook.
Through the WCI, ECE providers have been able to offer more competitive compensation packages to their staff, which has led to improved staff retention rates and a more stable workforce. This, in turn, has led to more stability and better outcomes for the children in their care, as they are able to form more meaningful relationships with their educators and benefit from their ongoing expertise and experience.
It is critical that we continue to support initiatives like the WCI and ensure that child care providers are able to provide high-quality care to the children of San Francisco.
To learn more about Children’s Council’s advocacy work and get involved, visit our website.
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