Immigrants Make Our Community Stronger through Family Child Care

By Jennifer Brooks
Children’s Council Chief Program Officer

As I listened to the news this week about President Trump’s new travel ban and plans to build a wall on the Mexican border, I thought about the immigrant child care providers who we work with at Children’s Council.

Eighty percent of child care workers in San Francisco are women of color; more than one-third are immigrants. And while we may think of child care as a low-wage sector (70% of the overall child care workforce earns less than $15/hour), owning a family child care business not only has greater earning potential than working as an unlicensed provider or in a child care center, it is also a viable career path for immigrants.

Children’s Council helps individuals start child care businesses and builds their skills as early educators. Check out our upcoming workshops for child care providers, which help them with everything from business feasibility, licensing and setting up their child care environment to marketing and accessing government funding.

Helping family child care business owners run high-quality, profitable businesses lifts immigrant families out of poverty, helps to preserve the racial and cultural diversity of our neighborhoods, and ultimately helps the next generation of children to succeed in school and in life. As the White House slams the door on immigrants, we in San Francisco need to dust off the welcome mat and redouble our efforts to ensure immigrants have the opportunity to contribute to our local economy.