In San Luis Obispo County, there is an estimated one licensed child care space for every four children ages 0 to 5. Local research also found particularly limited options for infants and toddlers, while 81% of families seeking child care referrals needed full time care and 73% needed care in order to work.
The economic implications are significant. Research cited in The Community Foundation San Luis Obispo County’s 2024 Child Care Report estimated that meeting the low end of potential child care need in SLO County could generate more than $108 million in annual economic activity and support or create 425 jobs.
Behind those numbers are families balancing work with the availability and cost of care, employers working to build and retain a workforce, child care providers navigating a challenging business environment, and communities seeking greater economic opportunity.
These challenges do not stop at county lines. Increasingly, neither do the solutions.
Six Counties, One Shared Vision
The Uplift Child Care Coalition brings together community foundations, including The Community Foundation San Luis Obispo County, and cross sector partners across six Central Coast counties around a common goal: strengthening child care as both a child development priority and an economic development strategy.
The Coalition grew from Uplift Central Coast’s regional economic development work, which identified child care as an important economic mobility strategy. With Catalyst Predevelopment funding from Uplift Central Coast, First 5 San Luis Obispo County coordinates the Coalition, bringing together partners from Santa Cruz to Ventura to build and advance this regional effort.
The network reaches across sectors, including early care and education, families, local government, employers, economic development, higher education, nonprofits, philanthropy, and child care planning and resource organizations.
For Wendy Wendt, Executive Director of First 5 San Luis Obispo County, the work reflects a broader shift in how communities understand the role of child care:
“Like housing, transportation, and health care, child care is now widely recognized for its essential role as an anchor industry in our communities. It lies at the critical intersection of child development and economic development. The Uplift Child Care Coalition is working to connect sustaining efforts across counties and sectors along the Central Coast.”
That regional approach reflects the complexity of the issue. Expanding access requires attention not only to the number of available spaces, but also to the child care workforce, facilities, land use and local policies, the needs of working families, and the role employers and communities can play.
Our local research identified many of these same priorities, including strengthening the child care workforce, supporting child care businesses, addressing land use barriers, engaging employers, and more fully integrating child care into economic development strategies.
Building Momentum Together
The Coalition is translating that shared understanding into resources and strategies communities can use.
Partners have developed a Best Practice Portfolio, resources outlining the roles different sectors can play in building child care capacity, and a Shared Vision for Child Care that organizations throughout the Central Coast can endorse and help advance.
The Shared Vision calls on partners across the region to work together toward “advancing a child care system that uplifts every child, every family, every community across our six counties.”
This summer, more than 60 participants representing all six counties gathered for the Uplift Child Care Coalition Showcase Event to exchange ideas, share what has been learned, and help shape the next phase of the work.
The breadth of participation reflects an important shift. Child care is increasingly being considered not only as a service for families, but as an issue connected to workforce development, economic mobility, land use, and the long term vitality of our communities.
From Shared Vision to Action
One area of focus ahead is the Child Care Facilities Action Network, or CCFAN, which addresses a practical barrier to expanding child care: creating and expanding the physical spaces where care can take place.
Our local research identified restrictive zoning, permitting requirements, fees, and other land use policies among the challenges that can slow the development of new child care spaces.
Through CCFAN, Child Care Facilities Specialists will participate in nine months of peer learning, fieldwork, land use surveys, coaching, and engagement with planning departments. Participating cities and counties will have opportunities to assess existing policies, learn from practices across the region, and identify opportunities to make child care development more feasible.
This is one of the strengths of a regional coalition: communities do not have to solve the same problems independently. They can share what works, learn from one another, and build on collective experience.
Add Your Voice
There is still significant work ahead, and The Community Foundation San Luis Obispo County is proud to stand alongside First 5 San Luis Obispo County and our Coalition partners as we continue advancing this important work.
The Uplift Child Care Coalition reflects an approach we believe is essential to addressing complex community challenges: bringing together people with different expertise, connecting local experience to regional opportunity, and creating the conditions for collective action.
Across six counties, that work is building a stronger, more coordinated vision for child care and for the children, families, workforce, and communities that depend on it.
Organizations and community leaders throughout the Central Coast are invited to learn more and add their voices to what comes next.
Learn more about the Uplift Child Care Coalition
