Mixed Delivery Program Narrative

Semi Annual Reporting

Due Date: January 31, 2024

Reporting Period: July 1, 2023 – December 31, 2023

County Name: San Francisco

If you are reporting on behalf of a consortium list the counties: n/a

Name and email address of person completing this form: Adam White, San Francisco Child Care Planning & Advisory Council Coordinator, CPACsanfrancisco@gmail.com

Directions: Do NOT remove any of the questions from this document when submitting responses. Read through the questions and provide answers to only what has happened during the reporting period. If a question does not pertain to the current time period’s activities, please write “Not applicable” or “N/A”.

PLEASE NOTE: Grantees will need to submit both the Mixed Delivery Program Narrative and the Mixed Delivery Expenditure Report as stated on the Grant Award Notification (GAN).

All questions are required.

List major UPK Mixed Delivery Planning Grant activities, events, meetings, and collaborations during this reporting period.

Provide the name of the event, topic, audience, and number of attendees.

Aligned to San Francisco's UPK Mixed Delivery planning grant, the following activities were conducted:

The UPK Steering Committee planning meeting was held in July 2023 to discuss the next steps following the submission of the UPK planning grant to CDE and the Board of Education.
A second UPK Steering Committee planning meeting occurred in December 2023. There were representatives from both R&Rs (Wu Yee Children's Services and Children's Council SF), LPC (CPAC), SFUSD (San Francisco Unified School District), and DEC (Department of Early Childhood).
The formation of the San Francisco Inclusion and Early Intervention Equity Taskforce. The task force is composed of members from community-based organizations, nonprofits, educators, and early childhood advocates. The task force's mission is to ensure all children have seamless, timely support services to thrive and meet their full potential. The task force met in July, September, October, and November and implemented a survey in January 2024 to collect feedback on improving services in San Francisco.
The San Francisco Unified School District created a Special Education handbook for families to understand their rights, the IEP process, and resources.
The San Francisco Unified School District met with the Head Starts agencies to discuss opportunities for common kindergarten readiness measures, data sharing, and consider the impact of TK enrollment on Head Start agencies
Three (3) community meetings to present on draft plans, receive feedback and the finalization of the CPAC strategic plan.
Three (3) community meetings to receive feedback and the finalization of the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood's Strategic Plan.
Four (4) committees meetings to review the San Francisco Early Care and Education Needs Assessment and San Francisco Early Care and Education Needs Assessment and it was present at the 2023 November full membership meetings. It was distributed to the larger community via email and website.
The request for grant applications for Family Resource Centers was released in December 2023 by the SF Department of Early Childhood to support families with resources, information, social connections, and needed services to adequately prepare their children to enter school.
The request for grant applications for Early Intervention and Specialized Services of Care was also released in December 2023 by the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood to support children with developmental concerns or identified disabilities and their families.
The San Francisco Department of Early Childhood’s submission and approval to present Why Early Childhood Matters: Findings from a 13-Year Longitudinal Study of the Relationship Between Kindergarten Readiness and Long-Term Educational Outcomes at the Every Child California UPK/TK Leadership Symposium in February 2024.

Describe successes during this reporting period.

During this reporting period, the UPK planning team met two times to plan and orient new members and to establish the UPK Coalition. The UPK Coalition comprises the CPAC (LPC), Children's Council of San Francisco, Wu Yee Children's Services (R&Rs), the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood, the San Francisco Unified School District, and community stakeholders (e.g., family childcare centers, family resource centers, etc.). The UPK Coalition hired two (2) Consultants to support the alignment and vision of San Francisco's UPK Mixed Delivery initiative.

As listed above, many essential initiatives supporting the UPK vision occurred during this time. The creation and community input sessions of the CPAC and DEC's strategic plans have helped to anchor UPK's vision further. The plans stressed the importance of racial equity, universal access, school readiness, and the inclusion and well-being of families. At the same time, San Francisco completed the 2023 Early Care and Education Needs Assessment, which furthered our UPK initiative.

Aligned with CDE's vision of having ample UPK access to meet the needs of all 3 and 4 years old children, the 2023 Early Care and Education Needs Assessment report has shown that the total available capacity (the number of licensed child care and TK spaces) meets nearly 100% of the need for preschool age children. This accomplishment was primarily made possible by the local Baby Prop C funding led by the San Francisco Department of Early Childhood, which helped to expand over 1500 preschool slots since 2016.

As indicated in the UPK Mixed Delivery Plan, supporting all children with school readiness and resources to thrive is a high priority for San Francisco. As such, a central component of the UPK plan is to support children with special needs. To move towards this vision, San Francisco Unified School District developed a Special Education Handbook for families, DEC released two requests for applications, and community members formed the San Francisco Inclusion and Early Intervention Equity Task Force. The Task Force membership includes Headstart, nonprofits, Title 5 programs, DEC, SFUSD, and CPAC. This group is charged with helping San Francisco identify gaps and strengthen current systems to improve services for children with special needs and disabilities.

During this reporting period, the DEC released two requests for grant applications: the family resource center and the Early Intervention and Specialized Services of Care to support children with developmental concerns or identified disabilities and their families. Selected partners for these two grants will further our UPK initiative by creating systems for family engagement, early intervention, and developmental screening services. Lastly, the Special Education handbook designed by SFUSD advances this work by providing families with valuable information and resources regarding the IEP process.

Describe any challenges or impediments during this reporting period.

Type response here:

During this time, we were contending with some shifting of responsibilities with our two primary partners in implementing this planning effort. The Department of Early Childhood is in a key staffing-up period, while the San Francisco Unified School District brought on a key new leader in the early education department. As such, we did not meet frequently during this time period. A first convening of the relevant stakeholders was able to be convened in December 2023 for this grant. In addition, key stakeholders across this multi-agency effort were working hard at internal planning to develop alignment about how to approach this planning effort. We are excited to be regaining momentum for our planning committee as we close out 2023.

During this reporting period, we faced challenges with critical leadership transitions and aligning the multiple city-wide early learning initiatives to merge into the overall UPK plan.

The San Francisco Department of Early Childhood hired a new Deputy Director of Early Learning; the SFUSD hired a new Assistant Superintendent of Early Education; the Children's Council is identifying a new Executive Director, and a new CPAC Chair will begin in January. As such, the UPK Coalition did not meet frequently during this period. The UPK planning committee met in July 2023 and resumed in December 2023. However, key stakeholders across this multi-agency effort were working hard at internal planning to develop various initiatives to support the overall UPK plan and participated in various State and local meetings on UPK.

We are excited to regain momentum for our planning committee as we close out 2023 and begin the new year by forming a new UPK Coalition and Consultants to align and implement our UPK plan.

Describe any projected plans in the next half year - including details on activities with expenditures, particularly large expenses such as those associated with subcontracts and stipends.

Type response here:

We intend to re-engage the facilitation and planning consultant who assisted us with the development of our UPK Mixed Delivery Plan submitted to our Board of Education in June 2023. Our primary objective will be to find key alignment across agencies and begin to implement the plan we developed, articulating how we can fill the gaps in our UPK system.

Some alignment opportunities that the UPK Coalition is exploring are building a UPK/TK mapping system for families to view the available community preschool programs and TK classrooms in various zip codes, creating community engagement informational sheets on UPK, opportunities to develop a shared professional development plan and training, and developing a cross-referral system between the school district and R&Rs, making it easier and more efficient for families looking for early education services.

Describe any activities or ideas you would like to share that may be helpful to other counties to hear about.

Type your response here:

Early care and education is a crucial priority for San Francisco. As such, San Francisco created the Department of Early Childhood (DEC), a government department that supports children 0-5 years old. Its mission is to weave together family, community, and system support so that all children who grow up in San Francisco have a strong foundation of nurturing, health, and learning. As the city's largest funder of early childhood programs, DEC is dedicated to creating a comprehensive system that ensures every child can thrive and learn. Through DEC and a combination of federal, state funding and programs, San Francisco has a UPK/Mixed Delivery initiative. The following local initiatives are examples that anchor and align to the state and local UPK vision.

The Early Learning San Francisco program provides financial assistance to pay for quality early care and education to eligible San Francisco families with children 0-5 years old. The program also provides funding, support, and resources to Early Care and Education Centers and Family Child Care Homes across San Francisco.
The Preschool for All Tuition Credit (PFA) program helps provide universal preschool access to all 4-year-olds in San Francisco.
The Workforce Compensation Initiative compensates early educators working in Early Learning San Francisco (ELS) centers and Family Child Care (FCC) programs, laying the foundation of quality early care and education across the city for years to come. In addition, this initiative advances equity-centered solutions by committing to the recruitment and retention of diverse teachers, with the specific goal of improving educational opportunities for African American/Black, Latino, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander children in San Francisco.
The Early Learning Quality Program blends local and state systems and resources to continuous quality improvement support through quality frameworks, standards, coaching, training, and other quality improvement supports.
Screening and Inclusion Initiative provides free developmental screenings to every family in San Francisco and access to early intervention services for families that need them.