FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JUNE 2, 2020

Build Up for San Mateo County’s Children and Redwood City 2020
form a partnership TO HELP support THE CHILD CARE sector

Initiative supported by a grant from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to help preserve
and expand child care and preschool facilities in Redwood City and North Fair Oaks 

Redwood City, CA – To address the growing shortage of child care and preschool spaces, Build Up for San Mateo County’s Children (Build Up) and Redwood City 2020 are partnering to preserve and expand child care and preschool facilities in Redwood City and North Fair Oaks. This partnership will help maintain the existing spaces, as well as, work to open and expand programs, which can be particularly challenging in light of COVID-19.

 

Redwood City 2020 is Build Up’s first partnership with a community collaborative that works in close partnership with local government, the City of Redwood City serves as Redwood City 2020’s fiscal agent and core partner. As a leading city in San Mateo County, Redwood City understands the challenges working families face in securing child care in the community, and is working to model best practices that help alleviate the child care and preschool shortage. This new partnership is supported by a grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

 

We are committed to increasing access to essential high-quality child care and preschools, and hope our partnership’s success will motivate other cities to partner with Build Up to address the need for quality care,” said Redwood City Vice Mayor and Redwood City 2020 Chair Shelly Masur.

 

These types of partnerships take us one step closer to ensuring that families in all of San Mateo County’s cities can find affordable, high quality child care. Such services are essential for families’ economic well-being and to ensure enriched opportunities for children to thrive and grow.

About Build Up

Build Up for San Mateo County’s Children formed as a collaborative cross-sector initiative in 2018 to address a critical shortage of affordable, high-quality child care and preschool options. Build Up engages local companies to encourage them to create child care facilities for their employees, tracks local real estate projects for child care opportunities, identifies resources to build new child care and preschool facilities, and generates funding to renovate existing facilities. Build Up also works with cities and the county to improve policies for child care development and provide technical assistance to child care operators. Leadership is provided by First 5 San Mateo County (F5SMC), the Child Care Coordinating Council (4Cs) of San Mateo County, the County of San Mateo, the San Mateo County Office of Education, and Center for Early Learning at Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF).

For more information visit https://www.buildupsmc.org 

About Redwood City 2020

Redwood City 2020’s vision is that all people living in Redwood City and North Fair Oaks are healthy, safe and successful. They bring community residents together with local organizations and public agencies to develop and implement a wide range of projects that are focused on addressing acute needs and building on strengths in our community. Their goals are to reduce the impact of poverty, improve the academic success of students, promote community health and wellness, increase community engagement, and enhance safety. Redwood City 2020 is comprised of eight core member organizations: Cañada College, City of Redwood City, John W. Gardner Center at Stanford University, Kaiser Permanente, Redwood City School District, San Mateo County (Human Services Agency and San Mateo County Health), Sequoia Health Care District, and Sequoia Union High School District.
https://www.rwc2020.org/

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Contact:

Christine Padilla, Build Up for San Mateo County’s Children Director
650-517-1436, cpadilla@sanmateo4cs.org

 

Nicole Prieto Macias, Redwood City 2020 Communications & Operations Specialist
650-423-2207, nprieto@redwoodcity.org