There’s at least one place in California where even households making six figures can get help paying for child care: San Francisco, the state’s most expensive county when it comes to child care.

As providers across the state await reforms for their financially fraught industry, voters in San Francisco have gone ahead and created their own solution: a commercial tax that now generates $180 million in revenue a year for local child care.

“Why did we go after a revenue source? Because that’s the only way we’re going to get ourselves out of this problem,” said Mary Ignatius, an organizer with Parent Voices, a group that advocates for affordable child care and campaigned for the commercial tax.

Child care — crucial for children’s well-being and necessary for many families to work — has long been a market failure in America.

The real cost of child care

California’s child care aid reaches only a small fraction of the families who need it, and it’s stretching providers to the limit. Education reporter Kristen Taketa examines how the system is falling short, and who pays the price.

The inherently high cost of quality care causes a chain reaction of challenges for both consumers and providers: Parents can’t access child care because it’s too expensive, especially for infants and toddlers. And because quality care costs more than what parents can pay, providers are in constant financial stress and unable to pay their staff much — which in turn limits how many children they can serve.

The San Francisco tax, narrowly approved by voters in 2018, is that rare example in California of a dedicated, permanent funding source intended to solve those problems.

In the first year of its rollout, the measure has paid for 1,000 more children to enroll in subsidized care, increased wages for 2,500 early education teachers and made 10,000 more children eligible for subsidized care on top of the 15,000 who were before.

“I’m hoping that if people see San Francisco can do it, then why not somewhere else?” said retired San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee, the main architect of the tax measure.

In 2018, after months of organizing from local officials, parents and child care workers, San Francisco voters passed the commercial tax with a measure dubbed “Baby Prop C” by a margin of less than one percentage point. A failed legal challenge by taxpayer and business groups delayed its implementation, but last year, funds collected under it began reaching the child care field in July.

As a result, families making up to 110 percent of San Francisco’s area median income — or up to $152,400 a year for a family of four — can now qualify for subsidized child care for their kids under age 4.

A child eats lunch on Pizza Friday at Baby Steps on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in San Francisco.

(Paul Kuroda / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Those income eligibility rules provide access to far more families than the state’s rules, which only allow subsidized care for families who make up to 85 percent of the state median income — or up to $95,289 annually for a similar family. Because it’s far more expensive to live in San Francisco than in California overall, some families who make even less than what it takes to get by there have not been able to qualify for state-subsidized care.

And unlike the state, which has required many families to chip in an income-based monthly fee toward their subsidized child care, San Francisco plans to charge no fees for city-funded care thanks to Proposition C funding, said Wei-min Wang, a director in the city’s early education department. That’s true even for moderate-income families who are newly eligible, he said.

“Now that we have Baby Prop C money, we don’t have to treat it like a scarce good we have to allocate and ration,” Wang said. “We don’t want high-quality early care and education to be so much a privilege as the right of every child, regardless of your background.”

Eventually, the city’s child care leaders expect to use Prop C to fund subsidized care for families making up to 200 percent of the area median income — as much as $277,100 for a family of four, according to current salary data. But the priority now is serving lower-income families, city officials said.

About half of Prop C revenue goes to expanding access to subsidized child care. But crucially, in an industry where low pay has often thwarted expansion of child care slots, the other half goes to pay raises for child care teachers, who in California are paid on average just $17 an hour. Many in San Francisco were making as little as $18 an hour — far shy of the $31 an hour it takes for a single person to get by there, according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator.

Prop C was designed not only to pay early educators a living wage, but to build a salary structure to put them on par with their counterparts in K-12 education, where starting pay is generally significantly higher and teachers are paid better the more higher education they have.

Prop C is working toward a new minimum wage of $28 an hour for early educators serving at least half low-income children by providing them semi-annual stipends or raising their hourly rates. Advocates expect that will not only improve current teachers’ quality of life but also help draw more quality applicants to the field and thus enable providers to serve more children.

Teacher Matthew Sullivan drapes a blanket over a child during nap time at Baby Steps on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in San Francisco, Calif.

(Paul Kuroda / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

It may be too early to judge Prop C’s success.

Still, San Francisco is further along than most of the state in advancing child care reforms. In 1991, San Francisco became what was believed to be the first city in the U.S. to establish a municipal fund exclusively for children’s services, including child care. Since 2004, it has worked toward establishing universal preschool, and since 2013 it has had a city office dedicated to early care and education.

And for more than a decade, the city has paid child care providers who serve low-income kids higher rates than what the state pays its subsidized care providers, knowing that the true cost of providing quality care has typically exceeded what the state pays.

“We now have this dedicated source of early childhood funding that is the first municipal source, where we can really draw from forever,” said Ingrid Mezquita, director of the city’s Department of Early Childhood, of Prop C. “It gives a level of stability that this sector hasn’t had in a very long time, or ever.”

The push for Prop C

Families shell out more for child care in San Francisco than in any other California county.

The vast majority of San Francisco families must pay as much as $2,700 a month — more than $32,000 a year — for full-time infant care, according to a 2021 statewide survey. That’s compared to a statewide average of about $1,600 a month.

Yet California’s income eligibility levels for subsidized care are set so low that many families can’t qualify for help paying for child care, and many families who make enough to get by in California are automatically disqualified from subsidized care because they make too much. In San Francisco, a family of four with two working parents needs to make $167,920 to get by, according to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, which is more than $72,000 above the state’s income limit for subsidized child care.

Meanwhile, there has not been enough public funding or child care providers in California to accommodate all the children who already do qualify for subsidized care. In San Francisco, more than 2,400 children were on the city’s waiting list for subsidized child care at the time Prop C was being proposed to voters.

There were other reasons to go after a child care tax measure, advocates said. For one thing, child care teachers in city-funded programs were seeing staff turnover rates of 75 percent, according to the early education department, which didn’t bode well for the quality of children’s education.

A child leaps during an outdoor activity next to San Francisco’s Stern Grove at Baby Steps on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022.

(Paul Kuroda / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Prop C was meant to be San Francisco’s answer to those problems.

The measure is largely the brainchild of Yee, the former board of supervisors president and a longtime child care and education advocate who had led one of San Francisco’s two child care referral agencies for 18 years before entering politics. He and fellow Supervisor Jane Kim led the effort to collect more than 9,400 voter signatures to put the initiative on the 2018 ballot.

Before, Yee and other advocates had to keep asking city leaders every year for one or two million or so dollars in the budget for child care. But those incremental, one-time amounts weren’t going to build a better child care system, which would require several reforms, he said.

Those reforms would need to address four areas, he said: giving more families access to subsidized care, expanding facilities to accommodate them, raising teachers’ pay and investing in their professional development to improve quality.

“Prop C is really a game-changer, because it provides the resources to do so many of the things that we wanted to do for our early education system,” Yee said in 2021, after Prop C survived the court challenge. “It gets us to close to universal child care access for everybody, including middle-income families, and it provides living wages for our early care educators.”

The real cost of child care

In this series, education reporter Kristen Taketa examines how California’s system of subsidized child care falls short — and who pays the price.

Before Prop C, commercial landlords in San Francisco generally paid a commercial rent tax rate of 0.3 percent.

Prop C now collects 3.5 percent from the rents of most commercial spaces and 1 percent from rents of warehouse spaces in San Francisco. Landlords paid less than $1 million annually in rental income and rents paid by government, nonprofit, arts and other tenants are exempt. Fifteen percent of the funds collected by Prop C goes to the city’s general fund, and the rest goes to child care.

It makes sense for large businesses to pay a tax for child care, advocates said, considering they possess some of the city’s greatest wealth and benefit from the availability of such care, since their employees need it to do their jobs. “Business is going to invest and support children in San Francisco so workers can go to work,” said Gina Fromer, CEO of the Children’s Council of San Francisco.

That was a key point supporters made during the 2018 campaign, volunteers said. Parents and providers held rallies, distributed flyers and did phone banking daily, targeting the people who would benefit most, said Maria Luz Torre, a Parent Voices organizer: women and low-income families.

“We even rallied at 555 California (Street). Trump is a co-owner of that building,” she said. “We rallied there to show these are the people who are paying for this, and not you.”

Isabel Daniels (left) and Pat Sullivan (right) run through activities with children at Baby Steps on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in San Francisco.

(Paul Kuroda / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Two months after Prop C passed, a coalition of landlord, business and taxpayer groups that had opposed the measure sued in an attempt to invalidate it. Those groups — the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Building Owners and Managers Association of California, California Business Properties Association and California Business Roundtable — argued that Prop C actually needed a two-thirds majority to pass because a government official, Yee, had been heavily involved.

“Our issue had nothing to do with where the money was going, but rather that it was an illegal tax,” said Brooke Armour, vice president of the California Business Roundtable, in an email.

But in 2021, a state appeals judge sided with the city, saying that because the measure had been placed on the ballot as a voter initiative — and because Yee’s involvement did not change that — it needed only a simple majority to pass. Later that year, the state supreme court denied the plaintiffs’ request to review their appeal.

San Francisco is lucky, Luz Torre said, in that it has a wealthy tax base to draw from to fund child care. Other counties may have to get more creative, she said.

At least one other California county has also passed a tax to fund child care. In 2020, just across the San Francisco Bay, voters approved a half-percent sales tax in Alameda County to raise child care workers’ wages and offer more subsidized care slots, as well as fund pediatric health care.

That measure, Measure C, has been held up for more than two years by a similar lawsuit. Last July, a trial court judge ruled in the county’s favor. The decision is now being appealed.

Raising wages to raise quality

Prop C is not just about raising pay for teachers, child care leaders said. It’s about professionalizing and improving the quality of a field that has long been underpaid, has often been degraded as babysitting and has lacked greater access to higher education and training.

Teacher Sophia Lam (center) supervises an animal card game with children at Baby Steps on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in San Francisco.

(Paul Kuroda / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Many child care providers have faced obstacles to gaining higher education and professional development, such as language barriers and a lack of money and time. Thirteen percent of family child care providers in California speak only a language other than English, according to the UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. About half of family child care providers and 20 percent of child care center teachers lack a college degree, according to the UC Berkeley center.

To address this, San Francisco officials have long made their child care funding contingent on providers meeting the city’s quality standards. They plan to use Prop C funds to improve early educators’ access to higher education and training. Some have suggested funding apprenticeships, tuition reimbursement and other programs to build a pipeline of workers that child care, unlike other education fields, has lacked.

The wage increases and stipends that come with Prop C are only available to teachers working for the 416 child care providers and agencies who have met the city’s quality standards and who are willing to serve low-income, subsidized children.

“That’s a foundational requirement for us, because part of the reason why we justify this investment in early childhood education is based on research that shows that high-quality care makes a big difference,” Wang said. “The goal of our department is to get all children to school readiness standards and to make sure that their families are able to have the resources necessary to raise their kids.”

Among those city-required quality standards: Providers must have low adult-to-student ratios, have a certain number of early childhood education college units, and use a developmentally, culturally and linguistically appropriate curriculum approved by the city early childhood department.

To be approved for city child care funding, providers must be visited by independent observers who look for quality interactions between teachers, note areas for improvement and decide whether the program passes a quality test.

Isabel Daniels (bottom) runs through activities with children at Baby Steps on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in San Francisco.

(Paul Kuroda / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

The city department created a new standardized salary structure for early educators, similar to the kind that school districts make for K-12 teachers. The model rewards higher compensation to teachers who serve more subsidized children and who have more higher education or an early childhood teaching permit.

Stipends range from $8,000 annually for full-time assistant teachers who have few or no early childhood education units and serve fewer than 20 percent subsidized children to as high as $39,100 for family child care owners who serve at least 50 percent subsidized children.

By making the funding available only to providers willing to serve subsidized children and boosting pay for those who serve more of those children, the city means to focus Prop C funding on the highest-need programs first, Wang said.

That could also help incentivize more providers to serve low-income, subsidized children. Historically, providers say they have not had much financial incentive to do so, because the state’s subsidized payment rates have been low.

But as providers and advocates statewide have warned, just adding funding for more children to receive subsidized care doesn’t automatically mean more kids will be served. Child care providers have to expand their staffing and facility capacity to take in those additional kids, too.

So San Francisco is budgeting for $35 million of Prop C to be used for child care facilities projects next fiscal year, Wang said.

And the city department continues to encourage child care programs that are not enlisted in the city’s quality network to join. The department offers onsite coaching and funding to new members to improve their facilities and take professional development, Wang said.

There have been challenges in rolling out the Prop C funds.

For one thing, child care programs are still seeing under-enrollment, Wang said. That could be due to parents’ anxiety about spreading sickness, be it flu, RSV or COVID-19. Some families choose to stay with their kids at home or have relatives, friends or neighbors watch them, while others take them to private programs. And child care programs are facing growing competition from public schools, as more children enroll in free transitional kindergarten.

Some programs are also still struggling to hire enough staff. But Wang has heard anecdotally for the first time that they are seeing higher interest and better-qualified applicants for jobs after Prop C. “Staffing is always an issue, but with the wage improvements, it’ll hopefully be less of an issue,” he said.

Owner Pat Sullivan (middle) supervises a card game with children at Baby Steps on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in San Francisco.

(Paul Kuroda / For The San Diego Union-Tribune)

The pay increases have already helped Pat Sullivan, a family child care provider of 30 years who owns the Baby Steps Nature School.

Like many family providers who run small child cares out of their own homes, Sullivan had not been able to pay herself from her business. And since providers can’t charge families more than they can afford to pay — which is far less than the true cost of providing quality care — she was barely breaking even.

To get by, many family providers depend on a spouse’s income. Without one, Sullivan has worked two other jobs on nights and weekends, too, teaching at local colleges. She had been working as much as 80 hours a week between all three.

Prop C changed that.

She was recently able to hire one new full-time teacher and two part-time teachers. She can now pay her teachers $28 an hour, she said, when she previously struggled to pay them $20 an hour.

Now Sullivan has some more time to run her business, rather than just teach children. She still works a lot — but “not the same way, not with the desperation I used to work with,” she said. She’s down to 60-hour weeks.

And finally, Sullivan earns an income from her business.

This story was produced as part of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s 2022 National Fellowship.

The post Can San Francisco’s “child Prop C” tax assist repair youngster care? appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The new department is aiming to unify these resources and services. “Family [will] have access to the information that they need, not only around what’s available in their neighborhood or in the area that they’re looking for, but also what financing is available for their child care,” she said. This will allow families to see whether they are eligible for federal, state or local funding.

How will this new department work to ensure equity in the kinds of families that it serves?

“Our focus is always going to be families who are in greatest need,” Mezquita said. “We want to make sure that the services and supports are meaningful.”

Mezquita said their goal is to reduce or eliminate racial disparities. “We’re in this unique position where not only are we going to be funding child care, but we’re also looking at children in a holistic way,” she said. She said this will include looking at comprehensive services and ensuring there are no gaps or missing links to support children and their families.

When are you expecting expanded services to be available to families?

“We were just approved as a new department, so we’re building that infrastructure,” said Mezquita. “We’ve already expanded eligibility for families who are making up to 110% of area median income, meaning that if you’re making roughly around $120,000 or below, you may be eligible for child care financing through our department.”

How will families benefit from the merging of two separate departments?

Mezquita said the information will soon be in a centralized place, and the department will be able to provide families information in multiple languages, “not only for their child care, but also for their child’s well-being,” she added. “San Francisco has an array of services and supports for families. And one of the most difficult thing has been being able to find them.”

When can San Francisco families access the information?

Mezquita said she’s hoping it will be accessible in the next few months. “We already have a portal, which is where families can find child care: Early Learning San Francisco. You can easily find child care in your area. You can see what you’re eligible for in case you’re eligible for any financial assistance .”

How do I access the California State Preschool Program?

If your family is seeking access to the California State Preschool Program, you’re automatically eligible for the early education program if you’re already enrolled in Medi-Cal, CalFresh, WIC or Head Start.

Once your child is enrolled, the new law guarantees two years of care and education. Previously, families were granted only 12 months of service and had to reapply for an extension.

Where can I find affordable, quality child care elsewhere in California?

A new state-funded website helps match families struggling to find affordable, quality care with providers. Mychildcareplan.org launched on October 11, and lists every licensed provider in California and their safety record, including their history of inspections and any citations they may have received; their vacancies; the type of care they provide; and the language(s) spoken at their center.

The new website consolidates information from each of the state’s 58 local child care resource and referral agencies, connecting families to child care, financial aid and other services. It also aims to better serve parents and caregivers who may work in one county but live in another.

“You can enter your ZIP code, you could enter the city, and then it does radial search depending on … your filters,” said Linda Asato of the California Child Care Resource and Referral Network. “You’re no longer just bound by the information at that one agency.”

The website is free and does not charge a subscription fee for parents or providers. It can be used in English, Spanish, traditional Chinese and Vietnamese.

The post San Francisco’s New Division of Early Childhood Needs to Make It Simpler for Households to Get Backed Little one Care appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

WACO, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Decisive Point Consulting Group (“DPCG” or the “Company”), a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business providing Health Information Technology and Patient Safety Technology Integration to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA), today announced the signing of a contract award supporting the San Francisco VA Health Care System (“San Francisco VA”), San Francisco, CA, under its partnership with CareView Communications Inc. Decisive Point Consulting Group and CareView formed a Partnership to contract directly with VA hospitals to use a variety of CareView products to enhance the services being provided to veterans.

The CareView Patient Safety System facilitates continuous remote patient monitoring of any patient that may be at risk of harm due to fall precautions, behavioral issues, suicidal ideation, etc. The solution leverages an in-room wireless mobile cart with camera, display, and audio capabilities utilizing CareView’s patented Virtual Bed Rails® and Virtual Chair Rails® technologies to improve patient safety. The Virtual Bed Rails® use machine learning to identify when the patient’s movement indicates a fall may be imminent, and subsequently alerts the Safety Technician. Pre-recorded messages in patients’ native language or 2-way audio allow for direct communication with the patient. The system can offer a considerable reduction in sitter labor costs and greatly enhance overall patient safety. This solution can conduct telemedicine consultations and integrate industry standard nurse call platforms once available for integration at the San Francisco facility.

CareView’s innovative Patient Safety System is the only virtual sitter solution in the industry with no audible alarms in patient areas, making it the perfect solution for VA Community Living Centers (CLC’s). Additionally, because patient privacy is important, the CareView System features a privacy option mode that can be utilized when needed, ensuring enhanced safety, security, and peace of mind for loved ones.

Daniel Wilcox, DPCG Systems Engineer, stated, “We are pleased to be working with San Francisco VA and know that our solution will address their current and future needs to reduce patient falls while increasing overall patient safety and staff efficacy. We are looking forward to working closely with our VA partners to integrate the enhanced system capabilities inherent to the system in the San Francisco VA once those disparate capabilities are deployed on site.”

To learn more about the DPCG, LLC, visit www.decisivepointconsulting.com

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South San Francisco’s Measure DD addresses the need for universal early child care for families who live or work in the city by imposing an annual tax on large commercial offices generating approximately $55.9 million annually.

If the measure passes, it will have 18 months until it goes into effect. Funds will be accrued from commercial offices larger than 25,000 square feet at a rate of $2.50 per square foot of parcel size.

Proponents, including Councilmember James Coleman and Margaret Brodkin, founder and director Funding the Next Generation, who helped gather signatures, have billed the measure as a way to address gaps in existing subsidized child care while affecting primarily the city’s wealthiest companies.

However, opponent for the measure, Julie Waters, director for Local Government and Community Relations, California Life Sciences, and Vice Mayor Buenaflor Nicolas, who represents the viewpoint of the City Council majority, explains that it isn’t that simple.

“A lot of the companies have child care plans that exist, we work in collaboration with the city. I don’t know what benefits there are that I truly recognize and it’s not related to the tax burden,” Waters said. “It’s the fact that most of the tenants in South San Francisco, you know despite the big shiny names, are actually renters, they are owned by the development company and they have in their leases that they will pass the new tax along to those tenants .”

There are more than 120 small businesses — including startups — that are members of the California Life Sciences group, Waters said.

“These startups aren’t making any money yet, they employ five to 10 employees and their position is to take their lab and leave,” she said.

Still, Coleman explained the city’s popular preschool program, run by the Parks and Recreation Department, has a waitlist of more than 700 long families, which equates to about four years. This forces families to either not have child care and stay at home with their children or pay for child care they may not be able to afford, Coleman said.

However, Nicolas is concerned the plan doesn’t look at child care holistically.

“Money is just a tool and without the proper plan and infrastructure behind it nothing really will be done because failing to plan it is planning to fail,” Nicolas said.

The city’s study found that revenue produced — estimated at $55.9 million in the first year, rising to $68.2 million in coming years as projects in the development pipeline are completed — would not initially be enough to provide the programming given current demand, however, the gap could be closed over time.

To provide for the 1,462 children expected to seek the service initially, it would cost north of $61 million annually, the study indicates $23.9 million for residents and $19.6 million for nonresidents. The other $17.5 million would go to increasing child care worker pay by 10%, something for which the measure also calls for.

Average monthly costs for early child care in the city are currently $1,341 per month, according to the report.

“The cost of preschool and day care right now is exorbitantly expensive, my husband and I are lucky enough to afford to pay but once our daughter goes into care we will be paying more for child care than our mortgage, and more for child care than our UC tuitions when we were in college,” resident Natalie Wheatfall Lum said.

The city of South San Francisco will cover all the costs of preschool and early care, without means testing, which means families with significant means can still participate in the free child care service.

Coleman argues that the rationale behind the lack of means testing for the measure is because a more educated society is a better society.

“If you are extremely wealthy, you can choose your own private school or your own nanny but the idea is the same resources are available to everyone,” Coleman said.

If the funds can’t cover everybody, there will be a system of means testing implemented by the city and administrative body guaranteeing that people of lower income families are prioritized, he added.

“In addition to this there’s another problem, our preschool teachers not making anywhere near a living wage, that would allow them to live in South San Francisco, currently they make around $17 per hour and just for comparison kindergarten teachers make $46 per hour,” said Coleman.

Adding to this issue is low working wages and higher turnover rate has made it difficult for preschool teachers to gain an expertise in the trade, he added.

The service will be provided for every child aged 2.5 to 5 years old whose family lives or works in the city, according to the Yes on DD website.

However, Nicolas said with $56 million they will not be able to provide the child care needs of the city.

“Child care is very much in the center of our universe and as you can see it is part of our general plan,” Nicolas said. “We are the only city in San Mateo County to come up with a child care master plan.”

The city’s child master plan found the need for operational support for child care programs. She argues that child care is not needed only from the ages of 2 1/2 to 5 but from childbirth to 12 years old. In addition, she said non-traditional child care is needed for people who work graveyard shifts or nurses.

“Ours [child master plan] is a very comprehensive plan. We need operational support for these programs, we know how to stabilize and secure facilities and we are looking for the financial resources to help the families pay for this child care,” Nicolas said. “And also most importantly is the solution to the staffing shortage.”

Nicolas said she doesn’t want to be the guinea pig or the first to fail at universal citywide child care.

Brodkin, of Funding the Next Generation, argues that the city officials will love the child care program.

“It will put South San Francisco on a map like nothing else they have ever done, people will want to stay there, people will want to live there,” Brodkin said. “It will be one of the most exciting things that’s happened in the children’s field.”

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South San Francisco voted in favor of affordable public housing with Measure AA leading with 4,371 votes, or 57.5%, while Measure DD, a new tax on large businesses to fund child care for all children between 2 1/2 and 5 for residents and employees is falling short with 3,338 votes in favor, or 43.61%, according to semiofficial results as of 11 pm Tuesday by the San Mateo County Elections Office.

If the election results hold, Measure AA in South San Francisco authorizes the city to acquire, develop or construct low-rent housing, up to 1% of the total number of existing units, annually for eight years. The city will be able to use its $120 million in a special housing fund from commercial linkage fees to build 1% of the total number of existing housing units in the city. That equates to approximately 250 units per year, totaling around 2,000 units in the next eight years. The measure would override Article 34, a 70-year-old state law that states additional affordable housing units can only be built with public funds if passed through a voter initiative.

Councilmember James Coleman believes Measure AA passing is a good sign for an eventual statewide repeat of Article 34.

“The results are very clear that the residents want to see affordable housing and city-owned affordable housing or mixed-income social housing and now it’s up to our city leaders to deliver what the residents want,” Coleman said, adding that it gives the city ​​more tools on the tool belt when it comes to building more affordable housing faster.

“Over $100 million in impact fees for city-owned affordable housing. I’m looking forward to seeing ways in which that could happen,” he said.

South San Francisco’s Measure DD sought to provide universal early child care for families who live or work in the city by imposing an annual tax on large commercial offices generating approximately $55.9 million annually.

In other elections, the cities of San Mateo, Burlingame and Millbrae appeared to pass a series of tax measures, while Redwood City voters appeared to agree to tweak the city’s charter to allow the mayor to serve one-year terms so more councilmembers could serve while San Bruno seemed to limit terms of its City Council and separately elected mayor, according to the semiofficial results.

Belmont and Millbrae both proposed a transient occupancy tax, both of which are appearing to pass. Measure K in Belmont needed only a majority to pass and has 3,205 votes, or 78.98%. If it holds up, the measure approves a 14% tax to hotel guests in the city that is estimated to raise $600,000 annually, that will cover a budget shortfall, and will be a continuous tax until ended by voters. Measure N in Millbrae has a commanding lead of 2,660 votes, or 78.93% and will look to raise the occupancy tax for hotel guests from 12% to 14%, generating approximately $1.5 million annually to locally controlled funds to address service including funding for police and fire departments.

Burlingame appears to have passed a measure taxing marijuana delivery companies and are raising business license fees with 3,620 votes, or 75.42%, according to the semiofficial results.

Measure X would tax 5% of gross marijuana sales, generating $2 million to $4 million a year. Business license fees would increase from $100 for all Burlingame businesses to $200 to $750, based on a tiered annual income, with only 7% of Burlingame businesses having to pay the higher amount if they gross more than 1$ million or more. It would generate about $2.5 million annually and would provide revenue relief for the city that lost $20 million in transient occupancy taxes from its hotels during the pandemic.

Measures P and Z in Redwood City amends the charter for the city to shorten the term of mayor from two years to one allowing more councilmembers to serve as mayor, and aligns the city charter with the state law. Both appear to have overwhelming leads of 6,292 votes, or 62.95%, and 8,450 votes, or 85.76%, respectively, according to the semiofficial results as of 11 pm on Tuesday by the San Mateo County Elections Office.

Measure BB in San Bruno has a commanding lead with 4,690 votes, or 82.72%. It limits the terms of the City Council and separately elected mayor to no more than 12 consecutive years, according to the semiofficial results.

Measure CC holds a commanding lead with 9,655 votes, or 71.84%, in San Mateo and looks to increase the property transfer tax in San Mateo from .5% to 1.5% for sales more than $10 million. The transfer tax is expected to generate about $4.8 million, and the city said the funds would be used for street repairs, park improvements, emergency services and reducing traffic congestion. It would affect less than 1% of all properties sold or transferred in the city.

All results are according to semiofficial results from Tuesday, Nov. 8, which included votes by mail received by Friday, Nov. 4, and all ballots received at voting centers. Later results will include votes received after Saturday, Nov. 5. Post-election results will be released before 4:30 pm on Thursday, Nov. 10, Friday, Nov. 11, Monday, Nov. 14, Tuesday, Nov. 15, Wednesday, Nov. 16, Thursday, Nov. 17, Friday, Nov. 18, Monday, Nov. 21 and Wednesday, Nov. 23. Results will be certified Dec. 8th.

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HAUPPAUGE, NY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Upward Health announced today its selection by San Francisco Health Plan (SFHP) to deliver Enhanced Care Management (ECM) services to a high-complexity cohort of SFHP’s membership. SFHP provides health insurance to over 160,000 residents of San Francisco through California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal. ECM is a comprehensive, community-based care management service focused on both clinical and non-clinical needs. The program is part of the CalAIM (California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal) multi-year plan to integrate social services and improve outcomes for Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

Upward Health recognized the partnership opportunity with SFHP as a natural fit. Upward Health has been delivering its in-home, whole-person model of care to high-risk and high-need patients across the country, including within California, for years. ECM similarly serves individuals with complex needs, categorized as unique Populations of Focus defined by the State of California’s Department of Health Care Services. The Populations of Focus include those suffering from homelessness, those managing serious mental illness or substance use disorders, those transitioning from incarceration, and several other vulnerable groups.

“We are excited about the chance to impact the patients that we care about most – patients who have fragmented care and who need help to access the support available in the community,” said Glen Moller, CEO of Upward Health. “We look forward to working with the outstanding team at SFHP to engage in this good work.” San Francisco County is the most recent addition to the counties in the state where Upward Health is providing ECM services.

Patients referred to ECM with Upward Health will work with a dedicated Care Specialist who will serve as the care manager providing support and coordination. ECM is a high-touch, person-centered program focused on coordinating physical, behavioral, and social services. Patients participating in ECM receive help with a range of services, including finding doctors, scheduling appointments, understanding and tracking medications, and finding and applying for community services such as housing supports.

“Upward Health’s commitment to underserved communities and to addressing the social determinants of health made them an easy choice,” said Yolanda Richardson, CEO of SFHP. “We look forward to this partnership and improving the health of our members with the greatest needs.”

ABOUT UPWARD HEALTH

Upward Health is an in-home multidisciplinary provider that partners with health plans and other risk-bearing entities to address the unique needs of the most high-risk, high-need users of the health care system today. Using a unique, in-home community-based approach to meeting a patient’s needs, Upward Health facilitates and delivers care that improves outcomes and the quality of life for every patient it serves. Upward Health has a measured Net Promoter Score of 86, among the highest in the healthcare industry. To learn more, please visit www.upwardhealth.com.

ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO HEALTH PLAN

About San Francisco Health Plan San Francisco Health Plan (SFHP) has a rating of 4 out of 5 in NCQA’s Medicaid Health Plan Ratings 2021. SFHP is a licensed community health plan providing affordable health coverage to over 160,000 low- and moderate-income families residing in San Francisco. SFHP is designed for and by the residents it serves—many of whom would not be able to otherwise obtain health care for themselves or their families. Through SFHP, members have access to a full spectrum of medical services including preventive care, hospitalization, prescription drugs, family planning, and substance abuse programs. SFHP’s mission is to improve health outcomes of the diverse San Francisco communities through successful partnerships. San Francisco Health Plan is also the third-party administrator for the nationally recognized Healthy San Francisco program. For more information on SFHP, visit www.sfhp.org.

The post Upward Well being Chosen by San Francisco Well being Plan for Enhanced Care Administration Initiative appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

The Office of Public Affairs can assist local media with queries, interview requests, and expert information about the VA San Francisco Health System.

phone: 415-750-2012
E-mail: V21SFCPublicAffairs@va.gov

After hours or on weekends, call the operator at 415-815-7769, and ask for the administrator on duty.

Submit a FOIA request

Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), you have a right to federal agency records unless those records are protected from disclosure by specific exemptions or exclusions laid out in law.

Requesting records maintained by VA San Francisco

E-mail: 662foia@va.gov
Fax: 415-750-2207
Mail:

VA San Francisco Medical center
Compliance and Privacy Service (00C)

Privacy Office
4150 Clement St
San Francisco, CA 94121

For questions about your FOIA request to VA San Francisco

Phone: 415-221-4810, x22135 or x26386

Additional FOIA request information

Report to issue

Give us website feedback

To report a technical issue or give us feedback about this site, email our web team at Coming Soon!

Report suspected fraud or mismanagement

Contact the VA Office of the Inspector General (VAOIG) to report suspected criminal activity, fraud, inadequate patient care, or mismanagement of VA programs or government resources.

phone: 800-488-8244

Mail:
VA Inspector General Hotline (53e)
810 Vermont Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20420

Learn more about the VA OIG hotline.

Report patient care or safety issues

If you have any concerns about the care and safety of patients or residents, the first step is to contact hospital management. If management did not address or resolve your concerns, contact the Joint Commission.

Submit a complaint online: https://www.jointcommission.org/resources/patient-safety-topics/report-a-patient-safety-event/
phone: 800-994-6610
Fax: 630-792-5636
E-mail: complaint@jointcommission.org

Mail:
Office of Quality Monitoring
The Joint Commission
One Renaissance Blvd
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 6018

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1. PASS/MATCH materials should be submitted.

The program is a participant in the Postdoctoral Application Support Service (PASS) of the American Dental Education Service. This program is designed to simplify the application process.

On-line PASS applications are available at www.adea.org. The VA San Francisco Medical Center a non-discrimination policy is adhered to in the selection process to the General Practice Residency in the Department of Dentistry.

2. Supporting Documentation:

VA Form 10-2850D (PDF)

• Save the Form first before you fill it out then Rename it

(Ex: Smith J_VA Form 10-2850D)

• 2×2 Photo Headshot – Business Attire (Coat & Tie)

Click the link Below to Submit the supporting documentation (2):
DentalGPRProsthSubmissions

* If the link above does not work, please send an email to:

vhasfcgprprosh@va.gov

with the subject:

GPR PROSTH Documents: New Submission

Submit all these documents to ADEA PASS

DO NOT SEND THESE Docs TO SFVA:

• (3) letters of recommendation
• personal statement
• Official documents from dental school
• college transcripts

3. Application materials will not be returned to the applicant.

Enrollment Requirements

A. Graduation from a United States dental school, which has been approved by the American Dental Association Council on Dental Education

B. Completion in Postdoctoral Application Support Service (PASS)

C. Participation in Postdoctoral Dental Matching Program (MATCH)

D. Personal interview upon invitation

E United States citizenship is required

F. The program complies with the Equal Employment Opportunity policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs which provides equal opportunity to all regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status, disability, religious or political affiliation, age or sexual orientation.

The successful GPR applicant will be in the top third or better of their dental school class, demonstrated excellence in undergraduate education, have excellent letters of recommendations, and be interested in concentrating on prosthodontic and surgery procedures in a hospital-based setting.

The post Dental Common Observe Residency Program | VA San Francisco Well being Care appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

About VA San Francisco Healthcare System

The VA San Francisco Healthcare System provides you with outstanding health care, trains America’s future health care providers, and conducts important medical research.

Health care and services

We provide you with health care services at 7 locations in Northern California. Facilities include our San Francisco VA Medical Center and 6 community-based outpatient clinics in Clearlake, Eureka, San Bruno, Santa Rosa, Ukiah, and downtown San Francisco. To learn more about the services each location offers, visit the VA San Francisco health services page.

The VA San Francisco Healthcare System is one of the leading health care systems serving Veterans in the Sierra Pacific VA Health Care Network. We’re an innovative care center within the Veterans Integrated Service Network 21 (VISN 21), which includes medical centers and clinics in California, Nevada, Hawaii, and other Pacific islands.

Learn more about VISN 21

Research and development

The San Francisco VA Medical Center has the largest funded research program in VA, with a budget of $81 million in 2019. We have more than 220 principal researchers and over 900 active research projects. We are partners with the Northern California Institute for Research and Education (NCIRE), which is a private, non-profit research organization that administers VA-approved research and related educational funding.

We are one of the few medical centers in the world that are equipped for studies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy.

We are home to several special research programs and National Centers for Excellence:

• San Francisco VA National Center for the Imaging of Neurological Diseases
• Million Veterans Program
• San Francisco VA Center for Excellence in Primary Care Education
• San Francisco VA Epilepsy Center of Excellence
• San Francisco VA Center for Infectious Diseases
• National Center for Cardiac Surgery
• National Center for Renal Dialysis
• San Francisco Center of Excellence in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
• Center for Advanced Neurosurgical Operative Procedures
• Hepatitis C Research, Education and Clinical Center
• Parkinson’s Disease Research, Education, and Clinical Center
• Western Pacemaker and AICD (automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillators) Surveillance
• Women’s Comprehensive Health Center

We conduct research to discover knowledge, develop VA scientists and health care leaders, and create innovations that advance health care for veterans and the nation. We offer Veterans the opportunity to participate in and benefit from our work. Our goal is to use research to promote better health and health care for all.

Major research areas include:

• Advanced medical imaging
• Aging and geriatrics
• Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and substance use disorder (SUD)
• breast cancer
• cardiovascular disease
• COVID-19
• diabetes
• Health services research, including big data
• Hepatitis C
• hypertension
• Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
• kidney disease
• Liver disease
• lung disease
• Memory and dementia
• Neuroscience of Disease
• pain management
• Parkinson’s disease
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• prostate cancer
• rehabilitation
• stroke
• Sleep disorders
• telemedicine
• Traumatic brain injury

Teaching and learning

San Francisco VA Medical Center is a general medicine and surgery teaching hospital that provides a full range of health services for veterans, with state-of-the-art technology as well as education and research. We offer 189 residency training and fellowships in many major medical specialties and subspecialties. We also train physician assistants and nurses and provide associated training to 700 health professionals in dozens of health professions.

Our medical center is affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco. We’re proud of our partnerships with top institutions and organizations that support the educational mission of the VA.

Fast facts

• The San Francisco VA Medical Center is a 1a complexity level facility that maintains 112 operating beds.
• We have a 120-bed community living center (nursing home) that provides skilled nursing and rehabilitation care.
• We have a partnership with the Department of Defense to study the neuroscience and neuroimaging of combat-related brain injuries and PTSD.
• We were one of the first VA medical centers to perform MRI-guided deep brain stimulation surgery.
• We are one of 7 VA medical centers recognized as a Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education.
• We have been affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco, for nearly 60 years.

Accreditations and achievements

Our facilities and programs have received accreditation from:

• The Joint Commission
• Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• College of American Pathologists
• American Association of Blood Banks
• Association for the Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care
• Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Programs
• American College of Surgeons

The VA San Francisco Healthcare System received the following awards:

COMING SOON

Annual reports and newsletters

Annual reports

The post About Us | VA San Francisco Well being Care appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

South San Francisco, CA March 10, 2020

Daniela Jonguitud, of South San Francisco, was honored by the South San Francisco City Council last evening, with a Proclamation of Women’s History Month with Vice Mayor Nicolas presenting the accolades. Jonguitud, an immigrant from Mexico, has worked hard to create her business, CHAJINEL Home Care Services. Her industry calls on her 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and she is currently establishing additional facilities in other locations outside of California. A single mom, Jonguitud understands the challenges many women face and the need to dig deep to keep on creating the life she has envisioned.

“For us, a business owned and founded by females, it is an honor to receive this proclamation. Thank you for the opportunity to serve the community of SSF and our aging community. It is a great honor to be a woman during these times.” Jonguitud tells us

Daniela Jonguitud with Vice Mayor Nicolas

“Being a woman in the 21st century is not an easy task, being a businesswoman, an immigrant, a single mother, is even harder.

Today, I want you to know woman that wherever you are, whatever you are doing, I salute you, and I recognize the importance of your input in our community.

But also today, I want to focus more than in what divide us, in what UNITE us. Females and males need each other to coexist in every level. My wish is that today and during this month, we can focus on finding balance, strength in our differences, and above all, be able to recognize that our growth would not be possible if we were not holding each other.

I want to invite you to just be, without dividing, just be. Because it is your strength woman the one that our community needs, and that can only be found and shared by you. Be strength, be courage, be love, be patience, be resilience, be creation, be wild.

Thank you for the honor of representing women today, thank you to all women and men who have held space for me to become who I am. Thank you to all women and men who have led the way for women like me, to have the opportunities we have nowadays.

Happy women’s history month. “

-Daniela Jonguitud, Founder and CEO of CHAJINEL Home Care Services

Daniela Jonguitud also sits on the Board of Directors for the South San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and in her free time, you can find her enjoying playtime with her pup, or hiking in the woods.

We congratulate Daniela on this honor.

Daniela finds peace with her 10-month old pup Deja “She brings a balance to my life”

CLICK HERE to learn more about CHAJINEL Home Care Services.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the South San Francisco Chamber of Commerce

The post South San Francisco Metropolis Council Honors Daniela Jonguitud, Founding father of CHAJINEL House Care Companies, with Proclamation of Ladies’s Historical past Month appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.