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New data show South County receives significant federal childcare funding, but providers say demand is overwhelming the system as legal and budget uncertainty grows.
Gloria Smith sings,"Head, shoulders, knees and toes," with two girls in her La Mesa childcare center, Jan. 19, 2017. The South Bay congressional district represented by Rep.
Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, received the most federal childcare funding in California in 2024, according to a new analysis from the The report is based on data from the California Department of Social Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families. It found low-income South Bay families received nearly $49 million to help pay for child care.
But even with that support, providers said demand for subsidized care continues to outpace what is available.
“Currently, for the County of San Diego, we have about 2,000 families on the waitlist for subsidized child care. Which equates to about 3,700 children that are in need of care that are waiting on the waitlist,” said Kim McDougal with theMcDougal oversees the county’s state-funded childcare waitlist. She said only about 1 in 5 eligible families are able to access care and the waitlist grows by hundreds of families every month.
The shortage could become even more challenging if next year’s state budget doesn’t fund more spaces, she said. California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget maintains current childcare funding levels. But it delays a previously planned expansion of about, an advocacy group focused on ending child poverty in San Diego County, said the shortage leaves families struggling to piece together reliable care.
“You really end up with a mishmash system that is not good for families, it's not good for kids, and it's not good for our economy,” Hogeboom said. Hogeboom said the potential loss of federal funding without additional help from the state will make it harder for providers to keep their doors open.
“And the more providers we see leaving the sector because they can't afford to stay and support their families and support themselves. It’s only going to get worse,” she said. Heidi de Marco is an award-winning photojournalist and health reporter who has focused her work on producing multimedia stories that help humanize the complex health and humanitarian issues impacting marginalized and vulnerable communities in the United States and abroad.
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