California Child Care Resource & Referral Network

The California Child Care Resource and Referral Network (Network) is 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.

The Network remains committed to supporting on-going efforts to ensure that quality preschool becomes available for all California children by:

• Advocating that any emerging universal preschool system:
  1. Provides a high quality program;
  2. Provides equitable access for all children;
  3. Addresses the developmental needs of preschool children;
  4. Honors the needs and input of parents;
  5. Includes and builds on the strengths of the existing child care system,
  6. Meets family needs, including full day/full year services; and
  7. Provides for adequate training/education, support and salary to recruit and maintain a high quality workforce.
• Facilitating a broad-based dialogue on issues of high quality in preschool programs at the state and local level.
• Facilitating broad-based input from the early childhood field and parents in the emerging universal preschool system standards and curriculum giving special attention to English-language learner issues and the needs of children with disabilities.
• Ensuring monitoring of the impacts that the emerging universal preschool system has on the child care infrastructure for other age groups and advocate for strategies to mitigate impacts.
• Providing technical assistance and licensed child care supply data to assist communities with preschool planning.

We believe that these continued advocacy efforts will be strengthened by addressing the challenges of preschool implementation and integration with the existing child development system in California. Through increasing collaboration and dialogue with current partners and the inclusion of respected leaders of well-established quality center based programs our collective vision and advocacy for preschool will be improved.