We Are the Care Initiative

• Overview
• Task Forces
• Resources

Resources and Useful Links

A list of resources and articles to better identify the need and cultivate ideas and solutions for San Luis Obispo County.

CHILD CARE CHALLENGE & COVID-19

• Stabilizing child care requires more than emergency COVID-19 relief funds (Feb 16, 2021)
• Central Coast child care centers plan to use $10 billion federal relief for sanitation costs, employee wages (January 24, 2021)
• The cost of child care was already astronomical. In the pandemic, it’s ‘terrifying.’ (December 7, 2020)
• Child care centers don’t drive coronavirus infections, national study shows (October 14, 2020)
• COVID-19 Has Nearly Destroyed the Childcare Industry—and It Might Be Too Late to Save It (September 8, 2020)
• The big factor holding back the U.S. economic recovery: Child care (July 3, 2020)
• The Coming Child Care Crisis (June 30, 2020)

THE CHILD CARE CHALLENGE

• San Luis Obispo County Child Care Planning Council: Needs Assessment (2018-2022)
• San Luis Obispo County Child & Family Data 2019 California Child Care Portfolio
• The US and the High Cost of Child Care, A Review of Prices and Proposed Solutions for a Broken System (2018)
• When child care costs more than a mortgage (2019)
• A majority of child care workers in California paid so little they qualify for public assistance programs (2018)

WE ARE THE CARE IN THE LOCAL NEWS

• KSBY News: Resource available to help businesses become more family-friendly December 16, 2020
• KSBY New: The Price of Paradise February 11, 2020
• KSBY News: Businesses look to solve childcare crisis for their employees December 10, 2019
• Atascadero News: ‘We Are The Care’ Coalition Forms to Tackle Child Care Crisis November 27, 2019
• KSBY News: SLO Co. supervisors approve study on affordable childcare November 5, 2019
• New Times: SLO County agencies team up on child care study October 31, 2019
• Central Coast Voices: We are the Care: A community initiative to address the local child care crisis September 5, 2019
• KSBY News: Where's The Care? Town Hall May 29, 2019

EMPOWERED BUSINESSES

• Patagonia’s CEO Explains How To Make On-Site Child Care Pay For Itself (2016)
• How Some Companies Are Making Child Care Less Stressful for Their Employees (2017)
• Want to Grow the Economy? Fix the Child Care Crisis (2019)

SUPPORTIVE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

• City of Gonzales, CA: Community adds health and wellness changes to its General Plan (2018)
• San Carlos, CA: Making way for child care in San Carlos: Officials peg developer fees, streamlined permits to increase facilities (2017)
• Colorado: SB19-063 Infant And Family Child Care Action Plan (2019)