Over the past several years, the Department of Children, Youth and Their Families and other San Francisco agencies have created several model citywide initiatives in an effort to enhance the quality and accessibility of early care and education (ECE). The strength of San Francisco’s ECE policies lies in the wide array of partners involved, including community-based organizations, the business sector, fellow city departments, ECE professionals and organizations, parents, advocates, and community funders.
Click on the initiative name for details:
INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE QUALITY
INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY
INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE QUALITY
San Francisco CARES
A program of Wu Yee Children’s Services, the San Francisco CARES (Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Educational Standards) for the ECE workforce offers financial incentives to encourage teachers and family child care (FCC) providers to stay in the field and further their education. Launched in April 2000, San Francisco was the first county in the state to implement such a program, and since the program’s inception counties throughout the state have followed this lead. The San Francisco CARES program has been awarding annual stipends to improve retention and compensation and to increase the education of the ECE workforce by helping applicants move up the California Child Development Permit Matrix and towards degrees.
Since 2000, DCYF has invested $11,814,382 in San Francisco CARES adding to funds leveraged from the California Department of Education and both local and statewide First 5 Commissions equaling a total contribution of $27,957,442 to date. Now in its sixth year, the program has grown to offer stipends ranging from $300 to $6500 with the average stipend in 2006 at $2,700.
See Wu Yee Children's Services
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High Quality Family Child Care Initiative
Since 2004, DCYF has committed $535,000 annually to support the most promising and effective approaches to training and supporting FCC providers and improving the quality of their programs and services. A wide variety of training opportunities and projects include, business development support with technical assistance, a mentorship program with peer support groups, unit-bearing child development courses through City College of San Francisco, and substitute reimbursement funds for providers to attend classes and trainings. This investment also includes $250,000 for the FCC Provider Health Benefits Project, designed to increase access to health insurance for FCC providers by covering two-thirds of the cost of the health care premium.
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High Quality Early Childhood Mental Health Initiative (ECMHCI)
The San Francisco Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation Initiative is grounded in the work of mental health professionals who provide support to children, parents and staff in ECE/child care settings and homeless shelters throughout San Francisco. The Initiative is a partnership between DCYF, the San Francisco Human Services Agency, the Department of Public Health-Community Behavioral Health Services, First 5 San Francisco, and the ECE/child care and homeless community. In 2006, DCYF contributed over $1.3 million to support the work of early childhood mental health services in early care and education settings.
Mental health consultants typically spend 8 to 10 hours per week at ECE programs (child care centers and family child care providers) and homeless shelters. Consultation services may include case consultation, direct psychotherapeutic intervention with children and families, program consultation, therapeutic play groups, referrals for specialized services (e.g., developmental and learning assessments, occupational therapy, help with Individualized Education Plans, psychotherapy), crisis intervention, parent education and support groups, advocacy for families, training and support for teachers, child care providers, shelter program staff, and other activities.
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Gateway to Quality (GTQ)
Building upon the City’s work and investments over the last few years, DCYF currently contributes $1.34 million to the GTQ project, which is jointly funded by the Human Services Agency, First 5-San Francisco and the Miriam & Peter Haas Fund --for the Marion Wright Edelman Institute at San Francisco State University to support and improve quality early care and education programs. This project involves a group of assessors trained to reliability on the Harms Environmental Rating Scales, who evaluate the quality of child care centers and FCC homes. Through these environmental assessments, quality improvement plans are developed and additional resources (e.g., quality improvement grants, infant/toddler sustaining grants) and technical assistance (through the Children’s Council of San Francisco, City College of San Francisco, Florence Crittenton Services, Our Families Coalition, and many others) are provided to early care and education programs. For more information, visit: gatewaytoquality.sfsu.edu
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Child Care Inclusion Challenge Project (CCICP)
Funded collaboratively with the Human Services Agency, DCYF contributes $120,000 to efforts that are aimed at providing quality, inclusive child care for children with disabilities or other special needs. CCICP is a collaborative effort between Children’s Council of San Francisco (CCSF) (the lead agency), Support for Families of Children with Disabilities (SFCD), Wu Yee Children’s Services (WYCS), and the Child Care Law Center (CCLC). CCICP’s goal is to ensure that each child has equal access and ability to take advantage of their surrounding environment, ultimately improving and enhancing the child care and educational experience for all children. The project assists families with information, education, parent-to-parent support, as well as with finding and maintaining inclusive child care. In addition, the CCICP offers child care teachers/providers on-site consultation, technical assistance, and trainings on topics related to working with children with special needs. For more information, visit: www.inclusionproject.org.
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INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY
Centralized Eligibility List (CEL)
The San Francisco Centralized Eligibility List (CEL) gives families access to many subsidized child care programs through a single application. The CEL is a secure, online database that saves families the time of applying at each agency individually. By speeding up the application process, CEL also improves families' chances of getting subsidized child care at their preferred locations. Families seeking subsidized child care in San Francisco can either complete an application at any participating agency or download an application through www.celsf.org. The San Francisco CEL is generously funded by DCYF, San Francisco Human Services Agency, theCalifornia Department of Education-Child Development Division, and is administered by the Children's Council of San Francisco.
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Child Care Capital Fund (CCCF)
San Francisco’s planning code requires developers of large office and hotel projects to provide a child care facility on-site, or pay an in lieu fee, contributing funds to the CCCF. Additionally, DCYF contributes $205,000 to provide financial support to child care providers who wish to start, expand, or improve their facilities. This fund is part of the Child Care Facilities Fund (CCFF), a project of the Low Income Investment Fund, where they manage the grants and provides additional support, including technical assistance and trainings. For more information, visit: www.liifund.org
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Child Care Planning and Advisory Council (CPAC)
DCYF provides in-kind support to the San Francisco Child Care Planning and Advisory Council (CPAC), and is integrally involved in their planning and policy activities. CPAC is a collaborative of child care stakeholders, including parents, teachers, providers, city agency representatives and others. The group plays a key role in creating and advocating for an early care and education agenda that meets the needs of children and families in San Francisco. To this end, CPAC assesses supply and demand, advocates for beneficial child care policies, educates policymakers and the public, and sets local priorities for local, state, and federal funding. For more information about CPAC and city-wide child care initiatives, and to access a comprehensive list of early care and education resources, visit www.sfcpac.org.
Click on the titles below for information on the latest CPAC meetings:
CPAC Full Membership Meetings
February 2009 Agenda
January 2009 Agenda
February 2009 Minutes - Approval pending
January 2009 Minutes
CPAC Executive Committee Meetings
February 2009 Agenda
January 2009 Agenda
February 2009 Minutes - Approval pending
January 2009 Minutes
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Preschool For All (PFA)
First 5 San Francisco, in collaboration with DCYF and other city and community-based agencies, is implementing the Preschool For All Charter Amendment (Proposition H) passed by San Francisco voters in March of 2004. At full implementation, PFA will guarantee access to preschool for all 4-year-olds in San Francisco. The planning process is focusing on how to achieve high quality care for all in existing settings, maximizing resources, and targeting underserved areas. For more information, visit: www.first5sf.org or contact, Gloria Corral, Deputy Director, First 5 SanFrancisco, at (415) 934-4854 or gloria@first5sf.org.
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