Children's Council San Francisco

Children's Council connects 5,000+ families a year to financial assistance for child care by administering child care subsidies on behalf of the California Department of Social Services and the City & County of San Francisco. This program serves our children experiencing trauma (homelessness, foster care services, hunger, etc.) and those from low-income families. Children's Council documents family eligibility and pays care providers based upon timesheets submitted documenting hours of care. In 21/22, Children's Council continued its partnership with the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood (formerly the Office of Early Care and Education) to expand Early Learning Scholarships to improve access to quality care for San Francisco families and increase early educator wages.

Children's Council offers a variety of training, coaching, and technical assistance for child care providers via our BizNest suite of services. More than 600 early educators received training, technical assistance and/or start-up or business interruption grants through our Family Child Care Business Incubator. 260 home-based child care businesses receive technical assistance to navigate the Early Learning Scholarship system to serve children with subsidies. Our Health and Nutrition Department supported 250+ FCC's in San Francisco and San Mateo counties through the USDA Child Care Food Program, providing financial reimbursement for serving in excess of 832,000 healthy meals and snacks to the 2,000+ children in their care. 89% of programs reported improved nutrition and physical activity practices in their child care environments by participating in the "Healthy Apple" program, which includes a self-assessment, information, training, and additional resources. Our targeted supports to Black/African American individuals include an Early Childhood Educator Pipeline program that supports 40 people a year in securing a teaching license and job placement in an early education classroom, to start a child care business, or continue their education.

Children's Council acts as a steward of public funds for programs that strive to improve access to and the quality of child care available in San Francisco. Children's Council serves as fiscal intermediary for the Department of Early Childhood (formerly First 5 San Francisco and the Office of Early Care & Education) to disburse Early Learning Scholarship funds to local child care programs. Children's Council also increases the supply of quality child care in San Francisco by providing training, technical assistance and entrepreneurship support for child care providers. Those new to the field can get help pursuing higher education that leads them to secure a teacher permit, or help starting a child care business. Via 100+ workshops annually and other resources, we also help early educators to advance their knowledge of child development, nutrition, trauma-informed care, health and safety as well as business practices, marketing, financial planning and technology.

Parents/caregivers of children come to us to find child care, secure financial aid, learn about child development, connect to peer support or other social services, and to receive concrete supports like diapers, books, toys and more - via our KinShip suite of services. The Children's Council Child Care Resource and Referral team helps thousands of families find child care and other family resources that meet their needs through one-on-one counseling and access to a comprehensive online child care search engine. Our Subsidy Administration team helps low-income families navigate complicated government financial aid programs and helps them connect to other community resources. Our Parent and Caregiver Education programs support adults in learning how to be a child's first educator and provide opportunities for parents and caregivers to develop peer support networks. Our child development tips were shared via 12,000+ texts to subscribed parent/caregivers. Our Parent Voices chapter brings together dozens of families from all of our programs to build strong support networks and leadership skills that enable them to be advocates for an improved early care and education system in California and beyond. Finally, we host an annual City Kids Family Fair to help hundreds of families connect to resources that support their children's early care and education.