Provider Consultation and Coaching

Once you are registered with Early Achievers, Child Care Action Council offers consultation and coaching on all topics related to your child care environment, including: child guidance, circle time, parent communication, working with children’s special needs, lesson planning, curriculum and administration. Child Care Action Council offers individual orientation sessions once you are signed up for Early Achievers through your MERIT account.

You can view our Early Achievers Services Agreement by clicking on the links below:

Customized Training for Centers

CCAC offers customized classes for center directors who want to provide a class for an entire staff. Customized classes for centers:

• Are based on a center’s current needs and goals.
• Provide an entire staff with the same foundation of knowledge.
• Are fully aligned with Early Achievers.
• Are offered in collaboration with Early Achievers coaches, who can reinforce learning.
• Can be very affordable: About $100 per hour, regardless of group size. Talk to CCAC about ways to reduce the cost by partnering with another center or by opening your class to child care providers in the community.

Customized training must be scheduled by the following deadlines:

• By Aug. 30 for Oct.-Dec. classes
• By Nov. 27 for Jan.-Mar. classes
• By Feb. 28 for Apr.-June classes
• By May 29 for July-Sept. classes

For more information on customized training, call Connie Dougherty at 360-786- 8907, ext. 108.

Infant Toddler Consultation (Birth to Three Quality Initiative)

The Child Care Action Council is funded by DCYF to support Early Achievers sites that accept infants and toddlers on WCCC subsidy in Grays Harbor, Lewis, north Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties. Consultation is available free of charge to infant and/or toddler teachers in areas such as:

• Mental health support (behavior issues)
• Developmental screening
• Interactions
• Environments

If your child care facility is interested in support with infants or toddlers, please contact your Early Achievers coach and ask them to refer you for services. For questions about infant toddler services, contact Connie Dougherty at 360-786-8907, ext. 108 or email to connie.dougherty@ccacwa.org.

Department of Children, Youth, and Families

• Early Achievers for Families
• Learn more about DCYF’s Early Achievers Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)
• Child Care Aware of Washington’s Early Achievers web page here: English, Spanish
• Training library for early learning professionals
• MERIT (Managed Education and Registry Information Tool): CCAC classes provide STARS hours that are tracked for providers in MERIT, the Department of Children, Youth, and Families system for managing provider information. For more information on MERIT, CLICK HERE.

Basic Child Care Licensing Information

Individuals and agencies that offer child care must be licensed through the State of Washington with few exceptions. You need to be licensed if:

• You are caring for a child or children who are not related to you (except a close relative);
• The care is on an ongoing, regularly scheduled basis for the purpose of engaging in business.
• Persons who care for a relative’s, neighbor’s or friend’s child or children (known as Family, Friend and Neighbor {FFN}) with or without compensation, where the person providing care for periods of less than twenty-four hours does not conduct such an activity on an ongoing, regularly scheduled basis for the purpose of engaging business, which includes but is not limited to, advertising.  Such care is not required to be licensed but is an option for FFN providers.

For more information about licensing, visit the Department of Children, Youth, and Families Licensing web page.

• Child Care Check
• USDA Food program for Child Care
• Child Care Aware of WA
• Department of Children, Youth, and Families
• Child Care Aware of Washington Child Care Data
• National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral / Child Care Aware

Business and Leadership Coaching

Are you a new director adjusting from managing a classroom of children to supervising and supporting adults? Are you an experienced director who could use a sounding board as you cope with the daily challenges of supervising staff and managing a business? Running a child care is demanding, multifaceted work in which there is never a dull moment. Problem solving is a regular part of your job description. What if you didn’t have to solve all those problems alone? What if you could receive support, guidance, mentorship from an early learning business and leadership coach? This service is available to you! You are not in this alone!

Who Is Eligible?

Directors participating in Early Achievers are eligible for this service. Contact your Early Achievers Coach today for a referral!

What Kind of Support Is Provided?

We provide support around the following leadership topics: staff morale and retention; staff supervisions and leadership; organization and management; staff professional development; business planning and marketing.

Child Care Aware of Washington Scholarships for Child Care Professionals

Child Care Aware of Washington Scholarships supports early learning professionals who wish to expand and enrich their expertise in Early Childhood Education. Our goal is to advance the early learning field by improving the educational qualifications, incentives and retention of the early childhood workforce. Please visit Child Care Aware of Washington’s website for scholarship information.

Early Achievers Needs-Based Grants

April 12, 2021: The Department of Children, Youth, and Families has announced upcoming opportunities for licensed child care providers:

The Spring 2021 Child Care COVID-19 Grant is scheduled to open in late April and will be available for four weeks. All licensed child care providers who are serving children are eligible to apply.

The School-Age Incentive will offer a one-time payment to licensed school-age providers serving school-age children accessing subsidy in the months of February, March, and April 2021.

The Spring Family, Friends, and Neighbor (FFN) Incentive will offer a one-time payment to FFN providers who have provided care to children receiving subsidy during the COVID-19 pandemic and claim a subsidy payment for both January and February 2021.

More information on all of these supports will be available on DCYF’s website later this month. In the meantime, watch the DCYF Early Learning and Child Care COVID-19 page for updates.

Imagine Institute

The Imagine Institute offers grassroots professional development opportunities that work for early learning professionals. The Imagine Institute respects the knowledge early learning professionals already possess and strive to offer relevant, respectful, and responsive supports for professional success. Services include training, Imagine U (Mentor Program), and Substitute Pool. Details and eligibility

Child Development Associate

Looking to earn a Child Development Associate (CDA) national credential? Here is what you need to know

• All CCAC classes can be applied toward the education requirements for your initial CDA or CDA renewal.
• CCAC class descriptions will indicate which CDA subject area the class applies to.
• The CDA is awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition. You can access their website and all the information you need at www.cdacouncil.org.
• Some of our staff members are approved to conduct CDA observations (a required step in your CDA process). You will find a list of qualified observers at www.cdacouncil.org.
• As an alternative to the CDA, you may wish to consider a Washington early childhood initial certificate, which does not require renewal. Certificates are offered through your local community college.