To help its employees navigate the shortage of affordable child care, the Sheriff’s Department is partnering with a San Diego tech startup that gives parents a tool to comb through thousands of providers to find one that fits their needs.
It’s a perk being offered as a growing number of local law enforcement and other government agencies, many struggling with a rash of vacancies, try offering benefits like child care and housing to help hire and retain workers.
Beginning Saturday, San Diego County sheriff’s deputies and non-sworn department staff will have access to free child-care benefits through TOOTRiS, a San Diego-based company that connects parents and providers.
The online platform allows working parents to search, vet and enroll in affordable child care programs at nearly 4,000 licensed child care centers and in-home care providers across the county — many of which do not typically show up on Google searches, according to TOOTRiS founder and CEO Alessandra Lezama.
Rather than create a single facility for employees, Sheriff Kelly Martinez said TOOTRiS brings child care right to deputies, regardless of where in the county they live and work or what shift they’re on.
s can use a desktop or mobile app to track real-time availability for full-time or drop-in slots, as well as summer camps, before or after-school programs, extracurriculars, special needs, tutoring or in-home babysitters.
“It’s nice to have an option that provides so many different facilities for our deputies and staff to use,” said Martinez, who said she had a hard time finding suitable child care firsthand during some of her nearly four decades with the department.
“I was a single mom a lot of that time, so even for myself, it was always difficult to find child care for night shifts, weekends and all those crazy hours that we work,” she added.
That challenge was only exacerbated by the pandemic.
A YMCA survey in 2021 found that 12 percent of the county’s child-care providers closed during the pandemic, and nearly 190,000 children under 12 who need care lack it. And a University of San Diego report last year found that those child-care spots that are available are not affordable for many families, costing anywhere from $12,900 to $19,500 a year.
Moreover, law enforcement agencies across the country are struggling to recruit, particularly women.
The Sheriff’s Department’s vacancy rate has dropped in the last six months, but they’re still higher than the department would like — 12 percent for sworn officers and 18 percent among staff, according to department officials. Currently, Martinez says there are about 700 openings they are looking to fill.
One of the biggest staffing obstacles, she said, is the lack of affordable child care in San Diego County.
“If we can offer something that provides people that peace of mind that they’ll have an opportunity to find child care more easily that can accommodate the family’s needs, I think it’ll help us bring people in the door,” Martinez added.
Locally, a report conducted by the San Diego Workforce Partnership and San Diego Foundation found that 84 percent of San Diego employers say that offering child care is at least somewhat helpful in improving talent attraction, retention and/or productivity.
“Historically, the child-care system has been broken,” Lezama said. “So the bottom line is the sheriff is a key example of an incredibly innovative way to incorporate new benefits that truly make an impact on the lives not only of working families, but our future workforce.”
Moreover, Lezama believes early child care is a direct investment in youth’s success in early academic success and, in turn, future economic growth.
The Sheriff’s Department is covering the subscription cost of TOOTRiS for its employees. Nearly two dozen Sheriff’s Department employees have signed up for the platform so far.
The San Diego Police Officers Association has also been working to help its employees find affordable child care amid a shortage.
Last year, it signed a five-year lease for a city-owned property, where construction is currently underway to create a child-care facility for San Diego police officers and non-sworn staff.
The city is also working to adapt dozens of city properties for use hosting child-care facilities to serve city workers and residents.
In November, San Diego voters approved a ballot measure that will allow child care facilities in public parks. The city is currently working with providers to figure out how to determine which are suitable.
