Since 1980, the California Child Care Resource & Referral Network has supported its member resource and referral (R&R) programs across the state, while playing a lead role in helping create awareness about child care issues locally and statewide. The Network - a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization - is based in San Francisco, with satellite offices in Los Angeles, Chico, and Sacramento. The organization promotes affordable, accessible, quality child care by:
- Collecting, analyzing, and disseminating data on child care, including publishing the biennial California Child Care Portfolio, a county-by-county and statewide report on child care supply, demand, and costs related to local and statewide demographics
- Educating policymakers, community leaders, and other decisionmakers about child care issues
- Conceiving and implementing innovative programs such as the California Child Care Initiative Project (CCIP) that increase the supply and capacity of child care providers to deliver quality care
- Supporting parents through programs such as Parent Voices, to advocate for their children
- Producing informative materials and curricula for parents and diverse child care providers, such as Growing, Learning, Caring and Quatros Pasos
- Managing Trustline, California's criminal and child abuse background check system, for in-home and license-exempt child care providers
Resource and referral agencies and programs (R&Rs), funded by the California Department of Education, Child Development Division (CDE/CDD), are located in every county in the state. They help families find child care that best meets their needs, recruit and train child care providers, and collect data from parents and child care providers. R&Rs provide a variety of services to parents seeking care, to providers seeking professional development and incentives for remaining in the profession, and to communities seeking support for their youngest residents.
All state-funded R&Rs:
- Maintain up-to-date databases with information about licensed child care
- Help parents understand child care options
- Work to increase the supply and quality of child care
- Educate the community and local policymakers
