Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Supervisor Dave Pine, District 1
Supervisor Carole Groom, District 2
Subject: $2 million allocation of CARES Act funds for the Child Care Relief Fund
RECOMMENDATION:
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Recommendation to:
A) Approve a $2,000,000 allocation of Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funds for the purposes of seeding the "Child Care Relief Fund," a COVID-19 recovery fund to benefit child care programs adversely impacted by COVID-19; and
B) Direct the County Manager, or the County Manager's designee, to negotiate agreements with Community Equity Collaborative and the San Mateo Credit Union to administer and distribute grants from the Child Care Relief Fund as follows:
1. $1,350,000 to child care centers, providing a minimum of 25 grants up to $55,000 each; and
2. $650,000 to family child care homes (FCCH), providing a minimum of 65 grants up to $10,000 each.
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BACKGROUND:
The novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 has had a severe, negative impact on child care programs in San Mateo County. The Center for American Progress projects that as many as half of California's child care programs could permanently close in the coming months, which would translate to a loss of 19,764 child care spaces in San Mateo County. Combined with the deficit of 23,591 child care spaces in the county prior to the pandemic, San Mateo County faces a potential shortage of 43,355 child care spaces in the near term. This shortfall will be greatly inflated if local K-12 schools adopt hybrid or distance-learning models this fall as a consequence of the pandemic, requiring even more child care spaces.
Even before COVID-19, the child care industry was precarious, with programs operating on narrow margins and staff earning poverty wages. Due to the pandemic, child care programs face declining revenue, increased costs and an increased risk of closure given the (...
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