Lack of affordable childcare has been a chronic problem in Santa Barbara since the early 20th century. The city, however, may look with pride to its past when trying to address the problem in the future. The opening of St. Vincent’s Day Nursery in 1918, the first such facility in the state of California, was an important milestone in making the area a welcoming place for working parents and their children.
Curiously, it was the outbreak of World War I in 1914 that played a key role in the establishment of St. Vincent’s. National labor shortages also affected the local Santa Barbara economy, bringing women into the workforce in greater numbers. For some, this presented an exciting opportunity to find dignified and gainful employment. For others, it was a decision dictated by the need to provide for their families. In both cases, however, the glaring absence of childcare facilities made their participation in the labor market nearly impossible.
The September 1918 issue of a local Santa Barbara newspaper, The Daily News and the Independent, described the urgency of the situation: “The present war conditions have made the need of woman’s labor one of the essentials of the day. Many women willing to work, and at times dependent for their support upon daily work, find it impossible to accept positions on account of having to care for a child or children while their mothers are at work.” The Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, an apostolic order of Catholic nuns who served the people of Santa Barbara since 1858, responded to the crisis.