Saying that "access to quality early care and education is an important part of our efforts to make San Francisco more equitable," Mayor London Breed announced a plan Thursday to open 30 new childcare centers across the city and provide stipends to early childhood educators to help them to afford to live in the city.

In a Medium post today, Breed lays out a plan that expands on her October announcement about the $30 million in stipends that the city plans to provide for 2,500 early childhood educators. In addition to those stipends — which will give around $4,000 per year to those who teach and care for young children — Breed says the city will be helping build 30 more child care centers across all neighborhoods in the city. She is vague about the timeframe, saying this will happen "over the coming years," but she explains that the centers will get construction and startup funding from the city's Child Care Facilities Fund.

For families who are struggling to pay for early childhood education or care, Breed points to the Early Learning SF program, which provides financial assistance to families who qualify.

It's too difficult to find reliable and affordable childcare in San Francisco. Here's what we're doing to fix that:https://t.co/I0fAaeevnx — London Breed (@LondonBreed) December 26, 2019

"Children from low-income neighborhoods in San Francisco are... less likely to have high-quality, formal early childhood experiences than their higher-income counterparts, and they are entering the formal K-12 system already behind on kindergarten readiness scores," Breed writes. "Families are struggling so much under the cost of living here as well as the daily chaos of just raising kids. We have to do better, and we are taking steps to improve childcare in this City."

Additionally, Breed says, "to make sure we’re on the right track," the city will be developing a strategic framework and action plan around early childhood learning and childcare equity citywide. And she's planning a Children and Youth Summit along with the Our Children Our Families Council, which will take place sometime in 2020.

Photo of the mayor at the newly open Transbay Child Development Center courtesy of Mayor Breed