Brief Overview of Child Care in Sunnyvale

There are approximately 114 licensed family child care providers and 40 child care centers in Sunnyvale with the capacity to serve approximately 5,500 children. Because child care providers play an important role in preparing children for school, it is important for them to have easy access to school readiness and professional development opportunities. Such resources will not only assist providers in improving the quality of their child care, but also help to ensure that the children in their care are "ready" for kindergarten.

Challenges to Improving the Quality of Child Care

Feedback received at community meetings focused on child care issues and attended by Sunnyvale family child care providers indicate that child care providers, and in particular the family child care community, face many challenges as they strive to improve the quality of care they are providing. These challenges include:

General Plan Goal 5.1H.1 Support efforts to increase the availability, quality and affordability of child care in North Santa Clara County.

The purpose of establishing a one-stop resource center in Sunnyvale is to positively impact the quality of life for the children of Sunnyvale and surrounding communities by providing a wide range of resources for child care providers and parents. Providing early education and school readiness resources for child care providers and parents will help to increase the quality and availability of child care and will help to ensure that Sunnyvale’s children are well-prepared for success in elementary school. In addition, the one-stop center will strengthen ties amongst child care providers. Research indicates that stronger connections amongst providers leads to higher quality child care.

Vision For The One-Stop Resource Center

The one-stop center would be centrally located in Sunnyvale, and will be open in the evenings and on weekends to maximize its use by working parents and child care providers who are unable to access the center during the workday. The one-stop center would offer a variety of resources, and expand on these resources with community input as appropriate. Resources that could be offered include:

The one-stop center may also support and collaborate with other local child care initiatives that serve Sunnyvale residents, such as those currently under development by the First 5 Commission of Santa Clara County.

Options For Providing The One-Stop Resource Center

The following options have been identified:

Option #1, Continuing with the status quo.

This option would include promoting currently existing one-stop center resources in Santa Clara County, but would not involve establishing a one-stop resource center in Sunnyvale. Given the feedback from the Sunnyvale child care community and the CCAB about the need for a one-stop resource center to be located in Sunnyvale, this option is not recommended.

Option #2, Developing a one-stop center with City funds.

The operating budget for a one-stop center is estimated to cost approximately $100,000, in addition to one-time capital costs to set-up the center. Due to current budget constraints, this option is not recommended.

Option #3, Encouraging a non-profit organization to develop a one-stop center in Sunnyvale.

The organizations that operate one-stop centers in Santa Clara County have expressed strong interest in locating a one-stop resource center in Sunnyvale. However, funding issues have prevented any one organization from locating here. Therefore, this option is not recommended.

Option #4, Supporting the collaboration of organizations currently operating one-stop center resources and other child care related organizations and initiatives, to develop a one-stop center with 501c3 status in Sunnyvale that would operate completely independent of the City.

The Draft Report to Council on this study issue (forwarded to Council on August 15, 2003 and accepted by the Child Care Advisory Board at the August 22, 2003 Child Care Advisory Board meeting), identified four potential collaborators. This final report identifies three potential collaborators, as one of the potential collaborators is allocating their grant funding to other projects.

Three organizations in Santa Clara County provide one-stop center resources for child care providers and/or parents. All have expressed preliminary interest in collaborating to develop a one-stop resource center in Sunnyvale.

Utilizing a collaborative model will help to ensure the center’s success and longevity by minimizing duplication of services, maximizing the expertise of agencies that are currently providing one-stop center resources, and leveraging resources to access grant funding to support the center. Establishing 501c3 status will enable the collaborating organizations to be successful with applying for grant funding. The new organization would be responsible for establishing, operating, staffing and managing the one-stop center, and would operate completely independent of the City.

Exploration of the Collaborative Model

In order to evaluate the feasibility of a collaborative model, staff explored the following areas:

Potential Collaborators:

1. Palo Alto Community Child Care (PACCC)

PACCC is a non-profit organization that provides child care and related services to families and child care providers in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.

PACCC manages The Provider Connection, a one-stop training and resource center for child care providers and parents, which occupies a 1,000 square foot room on the PACCC campus. Child care providers and families have access to a variety of resources including: networking and training opportunities (offered in English and Spanish), a lending library of early childhood education and school readiness resources (e.g. curriculum kits, multi-cultural resources, educational toys) and access to a computer, printer, fax machine, laminator, etc.

Sources of Funding for PACCC and The Provider Connection:

2. Choices for Children (Choices)

Choices is a non-profit child care resource and referral agency that offers a wide-range of services to parents and child care providers in Santa Clara County, with a particular emphasis on the family child care community and child care providers who are exempt from licensing.

Choices operates the Provider Training Resource and Assistance Center (P-TRAC), a one-stop resource center for family child care providers, located in a 900 square foot trailer on the campus of Bright Horizons Child Care Center in San Jose. P-TRAC services include: professional growth opportunities (in English and Spanish); early education and school readiness materials for use on a loan basis; access to a computer, printer, laminator, copier, fax machine; and assistance with marketing strategies and business skill development.

Sources of Funding for Choices and P-TRAC

3. Children’s Creative Learning Center (CCLC)

CCLC operates the Intel Family Child Care Network (FCC Network) headquartered in Sunnyvale. The FCC Network offers a variety of programs for high quality family child care providers in Santa Clara County who become part of the FCC Network. Programs include: access to training classes, a 125 square foot resource room located at CCLC in Sunnyvale, and financial incentives for providers who become accredited by the National Association of Family Child Care Providers. Currently four Sunnyvale family child care providers participate in the FCC Network.

Sources of Funding for the FCC Network

Space Issues for the Collaborative Model

The potential collaborators listed above indicated that finding appropriate, affordable space would be one of the most challenging aspects of developing a one-stop resource center in Sunnyvale. In order to address the affordability issue, and ensure the success and longevity of the one-stop resource center, it is essential that the space be compact, accessible, and functional for the services provided.

With the above criteria in mind, staff explored potential city-owned space to house the center. The City’s Facilities Division indicated that well-suited space is currently available at 505 West Olive Avenue. The available office space is 375 square feet. The approximate cost for this space is $2.25 per square foot (approximately $844.00 per month). Utilities, with the exception of telephone charges, are included in the rent. Initial exploration indicates that this will be a manageable cost for the potential collaborators.

A space of this size would allow for ample storage of early learning materials and provide adequate room for large office equipment such as a laminator and photocopier. The cost of renting a larger space that would also accommodate training classes would likely be prohibitive and also impractical, as training space would be used for only limited periods of time. The collaborative agencies will pay for training space on an as needed basis.

The Role(s) of the City’s Child Care Program

The City’s Child Care Services Office would play an advisory role, within budgeted resources, in the development and ongoing support of a one-stop resource center. Staff anticipates that this advisory role will comprise approximately 50 hours per year of the Child Care Manager’s time. Specifically, the Child Care Manager would act in an advisory capacity by:

identifying additional collaborators; advising collaborators in researching and applying for grant funding to establish and maintain the one-stop resource center; continuing to identify space options for the one-stop resource center, including space for training classes; advising in developing clear objectives that meet the needs of the Sunnyvale community; advising with the development and implementation of a marketing plan.

Option #1, Continue with the status quo of one-stop resource centers, has no fiscal impact.

Option #2, Develop a one-stop center with City funds, has a fiscal impact of approximately $100,000 annually. This estimate is based on the operating budgets of currently existing one-stop resource centers. A source of funding would need to be identified.

Option #3, Encourage a non-profit organization to develop a one-stop center in Sunnyvale, has no fiscal impact.

Option #4, Direct City staff to act in an advisory capacity with child care related agencies to leverage resources and apply for grant funding to develop and maintain a non-profit resource center independent of the City of Sunnyvale, has minimal fiscal impact. Resources are allocated in the Child Care Services Program current operating budget to support this option.

Public contact was made through posting of the Council agenda in public places, on the City’s web page, and the publication of the general business/public hearing items in the San Jose Mercury News. This report was also reviewed by the Child Care Advisory Board at a Special Child Care Advisory Board Meeting held on August 22, 2003. The Child Care Advisory Board is in agreement with the Staff recommendation in this report (see Attachment B, Draft Child Care Advisory Board Minutes from August 22, 2003).

1. Continue with the status quo of one-stop resource centers.

2. Develop a one-stop center with City funds.

3. Encourage a non-profit organization to develop a one-stop center in Sunnyvale.

4. Direct City staff to act in advisory capacity with child care related agencies to leverage resources and apply for grant funding to develop and maintain a non-profit one-stop resource center independent of the City of Sunnyvale. Staff will update Council on the progress of developing the center in October 2004.

5. Other alternatives as identified by Council.

City Staff recommends Alternative #4 as described above.