Our History
The California Child Care Resource and Referral Network (Network) is at the forefront of the oldest, most well-established system of child care resource and referral (R&R) agencies in the United States. The Network combines practical knowledge at the local level with extensive experience in working on state and national child care policy. The unparalleled public and private support for child care R&R services in California is acclaimed throughout the country.
Over the past thirty years, California's R&R services have evolved from a grassroots effort helping parents find child care, to a well-developed system that supports parents, providers, and local communities in finding, planning for, and providing affordable, quality child care. California has allocated state funds for the local R&Rs to provide services since 1976, and its commitment to R&R is evidenced by the growth in funding from $900,000 in 1976 to $18,186,000 in state funds and $3.6 million in federal funding in FY 2008-2009.
Every county in California is served by at least one R&R agency. The Child Development Division of the California Department of Education administers the R&Rs' state contracts.
The state's proud history of public support for R&R services stems in large part from the Network's effective voice and role. After operating for four years as an informal, mutual support organization, the Network incorporated as a private, nonprofit, public benefit corporation in 1980. The statewide Network does not receive any core, continuing support from the state of California. To accomplish its mission during the past twenty-nine years, the Network has raised millions of dollars from foundations, corporations, and periodic public contracts to increase the effectiveness of local R&R services, and to document and articulate child care and family needs to widespread audiences. It has actively participated in the public debate which shapes policies and programs central to the lives of California's children and families, and has consistently sought creative solutions to their child care needs.
As a private, nonprofit organization which exists outside the public sector, but maintains a unique connection to the state through its member agencies, the Network has enjoyed the freedom and challenge of developing creative solutions which stimulate new approaches to the existing service delivery system. Our position, independent of state funding streams, has facilitated effective links and partnerships with the private sector.
The Network's creative solutions also build on its unique perspectives on child care needs and issues. These perspectives come directly from the hundreds of thousands of parents and providers served annually by the 61 local R&R agencies. Through the Data Standardization Project and the resulting California Child Care Portfolio, the Network is able to capture these diverse perspectives and needs in a standard, systematic way, providing locally and statewide, an invaluable planning tool for addressing child care issues.
This documentation has long revealed critical gaps in the supply of quality, affordable child care, which the Network has addressed since 1985 through its Child Care Initiative Project (CCIP). This public-private partnership, incorporating over 300 funders, has provided support to 61 R&Rs over the past 20 years to recruit, train, and retain family child care providers. Over the past decade, the core training model and curriculum has been successfully adapted to meet the needs of Spanish-speaking providers and families. Additionally, in response to the steady, documented need for infant-toddler care, CCIP has further augmented its core training to encourage and train providers to care for infants and toddlers. In 2005, the Network expanded its provider training program to include license-exempt providers who serve up to 50% of the children in child care in California.
In response to parents' complex child care needs, the Network delivers several core parent services in conjunction with its members agencies. These include TrustLine and Parent Voices. Since 1992, the Network has contracted with the state of California to provide the public with information on and access to the TrustLine Registry, a background check available to parents choosing license-exempt child care providers.
Despite nearly thirty years of solid advocacy work and many major victories for child care, the Network realizes that expanded parent leadership and an amplified parent voice is essential to elevate the crisis in unmet child care needs to a new level of public engagement. Since 1998, the Network has sponsored Parent Voices, a grass-roots parent leadership development organization.
The Network has a well-developed and sustained organizational structure which facilitates the constant flow of information and assistance to its member R&R agencies. Regular regional meetings, specialized trainings, and an Annual Conference attended by more than 500 people, provide strong links and an integrated structure between the Network and the R&Rs. This long history of collaboration, trust, and action has allowed the Network to build the statewide and national impact of local R&Rs by championing their individual strengths and by helping them build independent accomplishments.
