Tackling Challenges. Building Solutions.
San Mateo County faces a significant child care gap leaving many families without reliable options and providers facing steep challenges. A shifting child care landscape, high costs, and a complex process for opening and operating facilities make it difficult to grow and sustain early care and learning programs. Build Up SMC has made meaningful progress by helping to expand, preserve, and improve child care spaces, and continues to identify and support solutions that strengthen the child care community—benefiting children, families, and the county as a whole.
The Challenges
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San Mateo County has made significant strides in expanding child care access, thanks to public support and Build Up SMC's leadership. However, gaps remain in meeting demand.
Child care demand met for children ages 0-12 increased from 67% in 2017 to 94% in 2024.
Preschool spaces have grown significantly, but infant/toddler care only meets 69% of demand and school-age care only meets 74% of demand.
Families continue to face barriers to affordable, accessible care.
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Shifting workforce patterns, COVID-19 disruptions, and the expansion of Transitional Kindergarten (TK) are among the factors that have reshaped the child care landscape with the following impact:
Increased demand for infant and toddler care
Ongoing need for after-school programs
Greater need for flexible and nontraditional care options
Rising facility costs
Persistent workforce shortages
More focus on safe, healthy and climate-resilient environments
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Existing conditions have led to critical challenges:
Shortage of infant/toddler spaces: 1,403
Shortage of school-age spaces: 7,501
Average annual child care cost for toddler or preschooler: $48,000 (7x federal affordability guideline)
Percentage of income-eligible families with access to subsidized child care: 45%
Families are scaling back work hours, quitting jobs, and turning down promotions because of lack of affordable, reliable child care
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Providers face a costly and complex process to establish and operate.
Expensive and complicated start-up and operations
Difficulty finding affordable space due to high real estate costs
Complex regulatory, financial, and licensing requirements
High construction costs—new child care space averages $50,000 per child and rises 8–10% annually
Lost public funding—San Mateo County turned down over $1 million due to lack of facilities
Build Up SMC is uniquely positioned with its focus on early care and learning facilities to address these challenges working closely with child care providers, developers, community leaders, and public and private partners. We support facility development, offer technical assistance, strengthen local infrastructure, raise awareness and advocate for child care issues, and secure funding for facility growth. Our work has had a lasting impact on the availability and quality of early care and learning spaces.
Our Impact
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Facilitated the development or preservation of 10,000+ child care spaces, including 500 for infants and 1,700 for preschoolers, through Build Up SMC's efforts.
Supported providers with grants, technical assistance, and facility upgrades to expand infant and toddler care addressing critical gaps.
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Distributed over $1 million in grants to family child care homes for expansion and renovation empowering providers to meet growing demand.
Leveraged a $100,000 initial investment to secure $1 million in public funding, achieving a 10:1 return on investment.
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Preserved 177 child care jobs and supported over 180 low-income children through direct provider assistance strengthening the local child care infrastructure.
Built Up SMC inspired the launch of Build Up CA in 2020 expanding the model statewide.
Launched the first county-level Early Childhood Climate Action Plan in 2025 advancing climate resilience in early learning facilities.
