High quality early care and education is essential for children’s development, for parents’ ability to work and for the health and economic well-being of our community. Yet, in Santa Barbara County, parents struggle to find the high quality child care they need. There is currently just one licensed child care space for every three children of working families. Learn more about the various types of child care:

Through the Capacity-Building Project, First 5’s Early Care and Education Division has dedicated itself to creating more high quality child care spaces in our county. Because the process is complex, we provide technical assistance, resources and connections to those wishing to start up or expand child care centers. Through partnerships and advocacy, First 5 works with members of the business, government, faith and the community to increase child care spaces by streamlining the process and creating supportive child care policies.

Partnering to Build Child Care Capacity

One local capacity-building project, facilitated by the Early Care & Education Division is the Downtown Santa Barbara Employer Child Care Partnership. The Partnership includes a group of employers who have been meeting to explore the issue of availability of workforce child care in the downtown Santa Barbara area. Recently, the Partnership completed a survey of employees working in downtown Santa Barbara that identified critical child care needs and the challenges. Click here for more information: http://www.countyofsb.org/ceo/ece/survey/default.asp