California Child Care Resource and Referral Network: The statewide membership organization of California’s child care resource and referrals. Provides information and resources for California families seeking child care, profiles the supply and demand of child care in each California county and offers opportunities for parents interested in advocating for affordable child care. 

Community Care Licensing: Community Care Licensing is the state agency responsible for licensing and monitoring family child care homes and child care centers to ensure that they provide safe and healthy environments for children.

Child Care Aware of America: Child Care Aware is a national membership organization of all child care resource and referrals in the country. Child Care Aware of America works to advocate for child care policies that positively impact the lives of children and families.  This site assists parents in identifying high-quality child care and provides other information and supportive resources for families, such as tips for choosing child care, evaluating a provider, licensing, types of care, and other resources. 

TrustLine: TrustLine is California’s registry of in-home child care providers who have passed a background screening. All caregivers listed with TrustLine have been cleared through a fingerprint check of records at the California Department of Justice. This means they have no disqualifying criminal convictions or substantiated child abuse reports in California. Licensed providers in the state of California have to go through an in-depth background check; families are able to TrustLine their nanny or other caregiver. To learn more, this article discusses Nanny Checks: Why TrustLine is the Gold Standard for California.

San Francisco Unified School District School Finder: The SFUSD School Finder can help you create the best list of schools for your family. SFUSD encompasses 13 early education schools, 72 elementary schools (including eight K-8 schools), 13 middle schools, and 14 high schools. While every school uses the same high academic standards to teach students, each school has unique programs and services that may fit your child’s specific interests and your family’s needs. 

A Parents Guide to Introducing Children to Libraries: There is more to your library than just books! The library is a living encyclopedia of useful information and materials from both the past and present. Libraries offer services and programs for parents and children based on their own experiences and what they know about early literacy. The library is a space that enables parents and children to share books and resources while benefiting from the help of the librarians and library staff.

California Department of Education: This site offers resources and information for child development contractors, families, and community members regarding child development programs funded by the state.

First 5 California: DEC is San Franscico’s department solely dedicated to supporting families and children during their first five years. Through leadership, investment, and advocacy in early education, child health, and family support, DEC aims to create a city where every child can thrive. 

San Franscico Department of Early Childhood (DEC): Receives local and state funds that it invests back into the community through more than 200 community grant programs dedicated to the well-being of children and families. Their initiatives increase access to and raise the quality of valuable services in our focus areas: family support, child development, and child health. First 5 San Francisco operates primarily as a grant-making organization, distributing allocated funds to support services and activities for children, caregivers, teachers and other providers identified through strategic planning. Initiatives often include technical assistance and other supports to enhance the quality of their services.

Head Start: A national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families.

San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Their Families: This site includes information on San Francisco child care, health, educational, social, and recreational programs for children and families, as well as advocacy activities, volunteer opportunities and special events.

San Francisco Human Services Agency: The Human Services Agency provides qualifying San Franciscans with food assistance, financial assistance, child welfare services, health care assistance, housing assistance, employment and job training and other services.

San Francisco Department of Child Support Services: The San Francisco Department of Child Support Services works with parents and legally acknowledged guardians to ensure children and families receive court-ordered financial and medical support. Services offered by the Department include establishing paternity (fatherhood), locating absent parents, requesting child support orders from the court, requesting medical support orders from the court, enforcing child support orders, modifying child support orders, and enforcing spousal support orders in conjunction with child support.

Earned Income Tax Credit: The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable federal income tax credit for low- to moderate-income working individuals and families.  This site features a calculator allowing families to determine if they qualify for the credit. 

211 Bay Area: 211 in San Francisco County can help you find food, housing, health care, senior services, legal aid and much more.

San Francisco Family Resource Centers: There are 26 family resource centers (FRCs) located throughout neighborhoods in San Francisco. FRCs are family-serving organizations that provide safe and welcoming places for families to learn about child development, build parenting skills, and engage in peer support. For families dealing with crises, FRCs provide resources, referrals, and comprehensive case management. 

Support for Families for Children with Disabilities: Support for Families of Children with Disabilities offers information, education, and parent-to-parent support for free of charge to families of children with special needs or special health care needs in San Francisco. 

Ready4K: Ready4K is a free research-based text messaging program for families with kids ages 0 to 9. Each week, you’ll receive 3 texts with fun facts and tips on ways to help your child learn and grow. To sign up, just text CHILDCARESF to 70138 on your phone. 

San Francisco Diaper Bank: San Francisco Diaper Bank distributes free diapers to eligible CalWORKs, CalFresh, and Medi-Cal families with children under 3 years old. Their mission is to improve baby and family well-being by increasing access to diapers for families in need. Children’s Council of San Francisco is part of the Diaper Bank pick-up location – for additional locations visit https://www.sfdiaperbank.org/locations. 

Arriba Juntos: Promotes economic self-sufficiency for San Franciscans and their families through occupational training and employment opportunities.  

Affordable Colleges Online: A guide to attending and paying for college as a student-parent. 

Code Tenderloin: Offers job readiness programs that help participants succeed in the workplace with courses that cover technical skills, soft skills, interview prep, coding, resume creation, and 1:1 mentorship.  

Free City College: Free City is a partnership between City College and the City and County of San Francisco to provide its residents free tuition or grants for financial aid recipients to City College of San Francisco. 

JVS: Jewish Vocational Services is a San Francisco-based organization offering free employment search assistance, training, job placement and other resources for jobseekers. 

Mission Hiring Hall: Provides jobseekers in San Franscico with employment counseling, training, and support service referrals to succeed in their employment search. 

San Francisco Office of Economic & Workforce Development: Supports San Francisco job seekers and employers by offering a range of services including employment opportunities, access to customized recruitment services, and matching candidates with jobs based on skillset and interest. 

CalFresh: State food stamp program that provides assistance for low- or no-income individuals and households to purchase nutritious food. CalFresh is known federally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

Women, Infants, & Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC): WIC provides food assistance, health care referrals, and nutrition education to low-income families with young children or expecting a new child. 

Summer EBT for School Children:SUN Bucks or Summer EBT (S-EBT) provides CalFresh, CalWORKs, or Medi-Cal families with $120 for each eligible child to buy groceries during the summer 

San Francisco-Marin Food Bank: SF Marin Food Bank offers a robust network of food pantries, home delivered groceries, and support with CalFresh enrollment.  

Groceries + Meals for Older Adults, Veterans, People with Disabilities: The Department of Disability and Aging Services (DAS) and community-based organizations offer free food programs to older adults, veterans, and people with disabilities. Visit the website to view a list of food resources. 

San Francisco Food Resource Viewer: This tool can be used to locate food resources by location, eligibility, food type, and delivery days/times/methods across San Francisco. 

Mission Food Hub: Serves the community by procuring and distributing culturally appropriate and nutritious food to support the well-being of families and individuals.  

The Women’s Building Food Bank: Offers fresh and nutritious foods in a farmers market style layout where community members select food that best meets their needs. 

St. Anthony’s Dining Room & Groceries: Daily offerings of hot meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) and weekly farmers market style distribution of groceries to Tenderloin residents. 

Click here to view more free food locations in San Francisco 

Medi-Cal & Covered California: The Covered California™ mission is to increase the number of Californians with health insurance, improve the quality of health care for all, reduce health care coverage costs, and make sure California’s diverse population has fair and equal access to quality health care.  

San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium: SFCCC sponsors a network of health clinics throughout San Francisco that offers health, mental health, pediatric, prenatal and dental services.  Services are often free or low-cost. 

Birth Injury Guide: Educates families on many different types of birth injuries, what the symptoms are, how birth injuries are caused, how they can be diagnosed, what the available treatment is, what the prognosis is, and what assistance programs are available. 

ConsumerSafety.org: Strives to make information about recalls and safety-related news about drugs, medical devices, food and consumer products accessible to everyone in a transparent, easily understandable. 

Healthy Children: Sponsored by the American Academy of Pediatrics, this site offers a comprehensive guide to children’s development, health and mental health. 

KidsHealth: Provides information for parents on child health, nutrition, safety and development. 

Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA): Is a nonprofit rooted in San Francisco’s Mission District. MEDA provides housing assistant programs for community members in addition to financial planning, tax preparation, business development, job training, and much more. 

Episcopal Community Services: Provides essential services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. 

Catholic Charities: Offers a robust set of services such as housing, immigration services, youth programs, and aging support services. 

Compass Family Services: Provides essential services to families experiencing homelessness. Services include housing support, rental assistance, child care assistance, family workshops, job training, and more. 

Homeless Prenatal Program: Provides support services including housing assistance, transitional housing, workforce development programs, prenatal/parenting support and wellness programs, and more. 

Child Care Law Center: Provides information on child care legal issues. Their website contains a vast number of informative publications for families and child care providers. 

Law Help California: Law Help California, from the Public Interest Clearinghouse, is a statewide, searchable database of resource and referral information on legal topics, such as housing, public benefits, health, work, immigration, civil rights, family and kids, protection from abuse and Native American issues. 

Legal Aid Society – Employment Law Center: Legal services for low-income workers throughout the Bay Area. Numerous fact sheets on the rights of California workers. 

Open Door Legal – A nonprofit legal aid clinic dedicated to serving low-income San Franciscans. Open Door’s legal team supports with housing, family, employment, elder, immigration, consumer, and civil cases.  

Parent Voices: Children’s Council sponsors the local chapter of Parent Voices, a parent-led grassroots organization working to make quality child care affordable and accessible to all families. Parent Voices members lead child care awareness campaigns through media appearances and interviews, testimony at budget hearings, meeting with legislators, and by organizing local and state rallies. For more information, contact Maria Luz Torre at 415.343.3383 or parentvoices@childrenscouncil.org. 

Golden Gate Mothers Group: Founded in 1996, this volunteer organization is run for moms, by moms.  GGMG hosts play groups for families, parenting workshops, assistance for new moms and social events for parents. 

Our Family Coalition: LGBT family and parenting support for the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Parents for Public Schools: Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco (PPS-SF) promotes the fundamental value of public education and supports the success of every public school by sharing knowledge, bridging communities and informing policy. They offer kindergarten enrollment workshops in multiple languages to help families navigate the complicated SFUSD enrollment process. 

San Francisco Parents of Multiples: This volunteer-based non-profit organization was formed to offer support to parents and expectant parents of multiples. SFPOM’s goal is to provide its members and their families with friendship, support and information on parenting multiples.