Last August, San Jose gave $1 million to Upwards for its Boost program to help child care centers streamline their operations. A year later, 43% of participating providers have increased their child care slots - and 35% reported an increase in revenue by at least 20%. About one-third of the providers were able to hire an assistant, according to Boost Program Manager Judy Ahumada.
"Childcare, as you know, has been seen as a personal problem for women and workers, but not an economic imperative. We knew we needed to get businesses to make the case..."
In our first session, to have this kind of accomplishment shows we've struck a nerve, identifying an issue that resonates with people, impacting families and economy.
In the past few weeks, we have been working with our provincial and territorial partners to make sure that families can rely on this system, to become something that no government, a year from now, five years from now, twenty years from now, could ever go back on.
