Download printable version

The Family Child Care Association Development Provider Project has been awarded to the International Child Resource Institute by the California Department of Education CDE, Child Development Division CDD for the years 2006-2008.

There is a recognized need to support the professional development of family child care providers through local family child care associations*. This project will be implemented over a period of two years to accomplish the following goals:

1. Foster the development of family child care associations in counties where none exist;
2. Empower existing family child care associations to enhance professional development using linkages through ICRI trainings and collaboration with quality improvement activities;
3. Implement an association grants component to provide opportunities for family child care associations, to plan and implement training activities based on local needs.

The intended outcome will be to enhance the quality of services provided to families and children and to improve the retention of family child care programs where a majority of infants and toddlers in California receive care.

The association grants component will be open for competition to approximately 115 local family child care associations throughout California, as well as from groups of family child care providers seeking to develop associations. A Statewide assessment of need will be done. From this assessment the type of support to be made available to providers will include scholarships, stipends and the provision of substitutes to facilitate family child care providers participation in training activities.

These training activities will focus on (1) the benefits of establishing family child care associations, (2) the “how-to” of forming associations, and (3) designing, implementing, and promoting professional growth opportunities. Three of six regional trainings in the first project year will be conducted in locations where they will be easily accessible to family child care providers in Northern, Central, and Southern California.

* Formal and informal associations, networks and support groups.

Outreach Plan

The implementation of the Family Child Care Association Development Project begins with the outreach plan designed to inform Family Child Care providers of the availability of training. To complete this task, Outreach Coordinators have been assigned to work in both the northern and southern counties of California. These are people who are experts in family child care and have been family child care providers themselves. They will inform and educate providers as well as local and statewide associations about existing programs and resources throughout California, the training and support that can be received through those programs and resources, new opportunities for training through twelve regional trainings over two years, and the availability of grants to pursue their training goals. The seven key Counties of focus in Northern California are: Del Norte, Siskiyou, Trinity, Alpine, Mariposa, Mono, and Sierra.

The twelve regional trainings are planned to complement and supplement existing training opportunities for providers, emphasizing the benefits and encouraging the development of family child care associations.

The professional development grants program will focus on:

1. Assisting providers in counties un-served by associations to attend ICRI regional trainings on initial association organization and development and helping providers apply for funds to attend those and other trainings to develop child care associations;
2. Assisting new associations to attend ICRI regional trainings on design and implementation of professional growth activities and/or to pursue other avenues of beginning professional development; and
3. Assisting seasoned associations to apply for funds to pursue a wide variety of professional training needs, including ICRI advanced professional development training and other professional growth activities.

Project Director
Lisa Ruth Shulman
Executive Associate Director, ICRI
Email: chou@icrichild.org