Child Care Development Services• • • • • • •
Metro Child Care Resource & Referral
A Brief History
Child Care Development Services, Inc. (CCDS) was organized to sponsor the Child Care Food Program in 1977, working from the kitchen table of a family child care home. The organizers, being young parents themselves, were committed to the concept that all children deserve to be in quality care environments at all times, both when at home and when in child care. From the beginning, providing a quality service was our #1 goal. As a result, CCDS grew quickly, adding more family child care homes to our roster and more staff to serve them. Today our CACFP sponsorship is nationally recognized as a leader in the field whose trained staff offer services in four languages: English, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese.
Realizing a Need for Public R&R
As a result of the CACFP program, CCDS soon began to realize the need for a child care referral service in the community. Parents began calling our Food Program staff searching for child care, and we were able to link them to the providers participating on our CACFP. We saw a need in our community and began the task of creating a public resource & referral service.
The Beginning of Corporate Services
In the early 1980's, CCDS was recruited by a private national vendor of dependent care referral services to deliver their services locally. Our staff received extensive training at Wheelock College and began delivering services to many of the local employees of Fortune 500 companies. CCDS has been serving the corporate community ever since.
Collaborative Efforts
In 1988, CCDS partnered with three other community based agencies for the purpose of delivering public child care referral services, fully incorporating the organizations's philosophy that communities and services benefit from collaborative efforts. With CCDS acting as the lead agency, funding was secured in 1990 to build the infrastructure, install computers and telephones, and train Resource & Referral Specialists to offer child care referrals to Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington county families.
Adding Services
In addition to the basic state funded child care referral program, funding was sought for more services, and new programs were continually added to meet our community's needs. Some of the services included:
- Training, resources and grants to help child care providers improve the quality of the child care
- Emergency Transitional Scholarships to help families secure child care in times of financial crisis
- Education and referrals to AFS families and providers
- A teen parent subsidy program
- Business and child development specialists
- Mental health specialists
- Public and environmental health specialists
- Multi-lingual and multi-cultural staff
- Revolving loans
- Grants to parents and providers
There are many more programs we have that are designed to offer a premium child care delivery system.
Adding The Latest Technology
In August 2004 our public service was greatly improved for parents by implementing the latest technology and offering a comprehensive service available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Although the service is now fee-based as CCDS no longer receives or is constrained by public CCRR monies, the new delivery system was immediately embraced by consumers requiring a quality, comprehensive service available at any time.
Services We Offer Today
In 1990 our child care database was composed of just under 1,000 child care providers. Today we list nearly 3,000, including child care centers, family child care homes, preschool programs, after-school programs and summer camps in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties. Although we are no longer funded to offer child care referrals free to the public, we do offer many other high quality services, some of which are free, others requiring membership and fees. These services include:
- Child Care Food Program
- Child Care Provider Training
- Parenting Classes
- Work/Life Employer Benefit Programs
- Online Child Care Referrals
- Online Adult/Elder Care Services
- Online Adoption Services
- Online Educational Seminars
- Workplace Health & Safety Training
Our Dedicated Staff
Our experienced, knowledgeable staff (many of whom have experienced child care from both the parent and provider perspectives) takes great pride in the quality of our program and the services we are able to offer to our clients. Their leadership, background and experiences in child care support, training and regulation bring a richness and depth that enhances all aspect of the organization's program.
Our CEO
Our CEO has been active in advocacy for the CACFP since 1981 and has had a passion of using her energy to improve the quality of care for children and the quality of the CACFP she directs. She began representing the Western Region sponsors on the national CACFP Forum Board of Directors in 1995 and served twiceas the Forum president from 1998 to 2001 and from 2006 through 2010. She has served on state and nationalchild care task forces and committes, all related to improving the quality of care for children and the CACFP. She is currently Treasurer of the National CACFP Forum and participates on the federal USDA workgroup for Paperwork Reduction and in 2011 was chosen to represent CACFP sponsors for the State of Oregon Child Care Wellness Champion Project.
Growing in New Directions
We continue to add programs as we grow in new directions, always emphasizing
the quality service the community has come to expect from us. Our newest program is the Adopt-A-Grandparent Program, which connects high school seniors with an interest in a medical career track and senior citizens who tend to be isolated and can bebefit from the interaction with the younger generation. The goals are to determine if geriatrics are a field of interest to the students, as well as bridging the generational gap and bringing minor services (yard cleanup, energy assesments, shopping) to the seniors.Each generation learns from the other and bonds are developed. Senior citizens provide a wealth of life experience to the high school students who conclude their participation in the project by presenting the elders with a written history of their lives as shared with the students. Thepilot project began with zero funding as an outgrowth of a visionong retreat with the East County One Stop partners and the commitment of the director for the Center For Advanced Learning in 2009, and has now expanded to multiple high schools in the East Multnomah County area with multiple funders and paid staff.
Please browse our web site and be sure to let us know if you would like more information about our services.
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