To help increase needed child care spaces for preschoolers, the city of San Mateo is launching a revamped funding program with $2 million available for applicants from construction development fees.
The Child Care Facilities Fund Program was announced by the city this week to help private and nonprofit child care providers acquire capital expenditure fund loans to repair, expand and buy property or complete construction permitting costs, offering a chance for those interested in providing child care to offset building costs.
“Child care is a fundamental need for local families, but there is a significant lack of available spaces in the community. This new program and fund will assist local providers in accessing financial support and help them navigate the process of creating licensed child care spaces,” Mayor Rick Bonilla said in a press release.
The funding will be for private and nonprofit providers that result in new, licensed child care space within San Mateo, according to Heather Stewart, the city’s management analyst overseeing the program. The funding allows providers and developers to borrow funds to develop, expand or enhance child care facilities or family child care homes. Funding will range based on the proposal and goes out on a first-come basis. The loan is interest-free and forgiven if the applicants meet requirements, working like a grant. Borrowers are required to document a minimal set of performance criteria. While the program itself has been around for years, funding started ramping up in the last few years with more major development occurring. With $2 million now available, the city hopes to see funding replenished with new construction development fees in the future. However, it is still figuring out how much will be available yearly.
The city is the first in the county to create this type of program and completed a soft rollout in 2019, which created more child care options through $800,000 in loans. One of those loans was to St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church at 1501 S. El Camino Real, which used the funding to upgrade its space and bring in a preschool serving around 20 kids. The church used about $450,000 in funding to upgrade part of its building to make it ADA-compliant for a preschool, adding a sink and several restrooms for more students. The loan requires the church to have a preschool that provides for at least a certain number of low-income kids, according to Barbara Pavicic with St. Andrew’s. She said the church wants to help underserved families get child care using its building and backyard, with the new preschool offering full-time care instead of the partial care previously offered.
“We could never have, on our own, borrowed the $450,000 to do it [without the city],” Pavicic said. “This was the perfect thing for all of us.”
The church contracted with nonprofit provider Footsteps Child Care to run the operation, which also has Belmont and Redwood City sites. Footsteps Child Care serves families of all incomes and opened its first San Mateo location at the church. Footsteps Child Care Executive Director Karen Haas-Foletta said child care is expensive in San Mateo, which is often 30% to 40% of a family’s income. Haas-Foletta anticipates the site will grow in the next five years to serve 30 to 35 children, helping many in the community.
“This program is serving children in the community who need a quality child care program, and it’s going to make a huge difference in their life,” Haas-Foletta said.
She urged other cities on the Peninsula to follow San Mateo’s lead in setting aside funding for preschoolers, calling it a role model program.
“I think every city should have some kind of developer’s fee that goes to child care,” Haas-Foletta said.
