CARLSBAD — The Carlsbad Economic Development Subcommittee advanced a certification program to formally recognize businesses that are family-friendly for parents, caregivers and young children.
Mayor Pro Tem Priya Bhat-Patel, who created the Carlsbad Family-Friendly Certified Program, outlined the initiative and its benefits at the July 21 subcommittee meeting, where it was unanimously recommended by subcommittee members Bhat-Patel and Councilmember Kevin Shin.
The program would be administered by the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce at no cost to the city, according to city documents.
Bhat-Patel told The Coast News the program is intended to serve as a “trust-based shortcut” in a way “similar to a health inspection grade,” allowing families to feel confident that participating businesses make accommodations for young children and caregivers.
She said the program would also benefit businesses by helping local and visiting families “connect with a place that they may not have seen otherwise.”
“The certification should turn that family foot-traffic into loyal, repeat customers,” Bhat-Patel said. “In general this will be a broader branding for our city. We are already known as a family-friendly city.”
Shin said he remembered that as a new father, he often found himself gravitating toward businesses that accommodated the needs of families with young children.
Under the Carlsbad Family-Friendly Certified Program, the chamber would manage the self-certification application process, oversee the production and distribution of window decals for certified businesses and carry out other administrative responsibilities, according to city documents.
The chamber is also recruiting 20 businesses to participate in a pilot program scheduled to begin in the first quarter of next year. The pilot will include businesses in the following categories: coffee shops and cafes, restaurants, retail, health and wellness, recreation and culture, and hospitality and tourism.
Businesses would also be evaluated using a scoring rubric that measures how family-friendly they are.
Bhat-Patel told The Coast News the goal of the pilot is to gather feedback from businesses across multiple sectors before expanding the program citywide.
“It would just be a good way for us to fine tune the criteria to make sure it works for the businesses and those visiting the businesses,” she said.
She added at the meeting that several businesses have already signed on to participate in the pilot program, including Kids & Coffee.
Businesses that opt into the Carlsbad Family-Friendly Certified Program would be ranked in one of four tiers. The Gold designation would recognize businesses that serve as a model of family-friendliness, while Silver and Bronze would recognize businesses demonstrating solid and entry-level family-friendly practices, respectively.
The program would also include a Pathway designation for businesses that score below the certification threshold but want feedback on how to better serve families in the community.
“We’re really trying to make sure it’s very inclusive,” Bhat-Patel said. “We don’t want to leave folks out.”
She said feedback, particularly from other mothers and parents, has been overwhelmingly supportive of the certification program.
“It’s about lived experience which makes it so important to me,” Bhat-Patel said.
