last updated: April 2024
Berkeley Parents Network (BPN) is a free, moderated online forum for San Francisco Bay Area parents to connect with each other and share information. BPN is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.
As of April 2024, BPN has 47,000 parent subscribers and 3,000 community subscribers. Because we started in Berkeley (see History of BPN), most of our subscribers live in the East Bay, but BPN includes subscribers from all over the Bay Area. We receive ~200 posts each week from parent subscribers asking other parents for or giving advice, looking for childcare, schools, camps, and classes, and buying and selling used items. BPN is managed by a small part-time staff of 6 with help from 10 volunteers.
How you can use BPN:
- New to the area? Ask for advice about Bay Area neighborhoods, local businesses, religious congregations, childcare, school reviews, and more. Find a pediatrician or a preschool or a car mechanic or a gardener.
- Connect with other parents: Join a playgroup for parents who speak German, organize a Covid pod for your kindergartener, look for another parent who wants to stroller jog.
- Find childcare and preschools: BPN is the East Bay's go-to resource for finding a nanny, nanny share, or small in-home daycare. In addition to getting suggestions from other parents, you can also connect with our paid subscribers: 450 local nannies, 150 student babysitters, and 180 home-based daycares. BPN's website has parent reviews for more than 900 local daycares, preschools, and childcare centers.
- Look for used baby & child items: BPN's Marketplace is a sort of Craigslist for local parents. Subscribers can buy, sell or give away used household items, especially baby and kid gear. Garage sales, free baby items, and housing offers are in Marketplace too.
- Got school-aged kids? More than 300 local K-12 schools are reviewed on BPN's website, both public and private, along with hundreds of classes, tutors, camps, sports teams, choruses, and more. BPN mails out a weekly newsletter just for parents of teenagers, pre-teens, and young adults with advice and announcements. More than 200 local camps and classes subscribe to BPN and post about their upcoming sessions, and 300+ teachers and tutors subscribe to BPN and post their availability. Many local nonprofits subscribe also, including public libraries that post about their events for children and children's museums and performance venues.
- Get advice from other parents: Post a request (anonymously if you like) about anything: how to get your toddler to stay in bed, how to find a couples counselor, where to get the best croissants, where to go for a weekend getaway. Other parents will respond. Past advice on more than 8,000 topics is publicly available on the website.