The Challenge

Recent reports call out the enormous gap between child care and preschool supply and demand in San Mateo County:

• Brion Economics' Early Learning Facilities Needs Assessment (all study-related documents)
  • Executive Summary
  • Facilities Site Assessments and Financing Strategies Powerpoint Presentation
• Silicon Valley Community Foundation's Child Care and Preschool Facilities Task Force
• The Child Care Partnership Council's Child Care and Preschool Needs Assessment

The findings of the Needs Assessments and Task Force are summarized below.

San Mateo County has a child care shortage crisis affecting families’ economic opportunities, and children’s learning during critical development stages from birth to age 5. Recently, the county turned down $1 million in state support for subsidized child care due to lack of facilities to house programs.

Available child care is a quality of life and workforce issue for residents and employers. The child care shortage causes working parents to choose between less-than-ideal arrangements or turning down employment opportunities.

Child care is valuable community infrastructure that interrelates with housing and transit; child care sited near housing, jobs and transit reduces car trips. Currently, families may drive an extra 45 minutes or more to get to quality care.

Early learning programs looking to open new sites or expand face challenges such as lack of usable, affordable space and extreme development expenses and timelines. Many give up on their expansion dreams.

Existing providers are squeezed by the hot real estate market. Those who rent see rent increases or lose their leases as buildings are repurposed, displacing children from early learning spaces. Child care businesses operate on tight budgets; demand for housing and office space prices child care out of the market.