About

Founded in 1970, South of Market Child Care, Inc. (SOMACC) celebrates over 50 years of serving children, their families, and the community by providing quality early care and education, and free comprehensive family support services in safe and nurturing environments.

Our Story

SOMACC is a nonprofit organization that has been a strong presence and a highly regarded institution in San Francisco's South of Market (SOMA) neighborhood since 1970, serving primarily low-income, recent immigrant, homeless, and at-risk populations. Our program, then known as St. Patrick's Day Care Center on Clementina St., began in a single classroom with 30 children.

  • The name South of Market Child Care, Inc. (SOMACC) was established in the late 1980s. SOMACC's main facility, the Yerba Buena Gardens Child Development Center (YBG CDC) on Folsom St., opened in 1998. In 1999, we opened the South of Market Family Resource Center (SOMA FRC) in the same location to expand our ability to address family health and well-being. Our original location on Clementina St. was relocated to a low-income housing project on Natoma St. in 2006. It was named the Judith Baker Child Development Center (JB CDC) after one of SOMACC's leaders. Unfortunately, we had to permanently close the JB CDC in 2022.

    SOMACC was presented with a unique opportunity to open a third location in 2014. We applied, and after a highly competitive selection process, we were chosen as the provider of the Transbay Child Development Center (TB CDC) in the Transbay Project Area by low-income housing developer Mercy Housing California (MHC) and the San Francisco Office of Early Care and Education (SF OECE), which officially opened in December 2019. This opportunity enables our Agency to reach out to more families and children in the community by expanding our early care and education and family support services.

    What began as a small program for 30 preschoolers has grown into a major early childhood education institution and family support program that serves nearly 130 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers at two child development centers each year, as well as 500+ families at our family resource center.

"What children learn does not follow as an automatic result from what is taught. Rather, it is in large part due to the children’s own doing."


— LORIS MALAGUZZI, REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH FOUNDER