Partner Information
Building Child Care was created as a collaboration of four partner organizations that have combined their experience, resources, and expertise to build a clearinghouse of information and assistance related to child care facilities development in California. These organizations are:
Insight Center for Community Economic Development
The Insight Center for Community Economic Development (Insight Center), is the lead agency of the Building Child Care project. Founded in 1969, Insight Center is a national research and consulting organization dedicated to building economic health and opportunity in vulnerable communities. We work in partnership with a diverse range of colleagues to develop innovative strategies and programs that result in systemic change and help people become—and remain—economically secure. In addition to its work on the BCC project, Insight Center links early care and education to economic development by working with regions across the nation to quantify the direct economic effects of the child care and early education industry. Insight Center works with local partnerships to increase the industry’s capacity to respond to the shifting child care and early education needs of America’s families. To learn more about Insight Center , please visit the website: www.insightcced.org
The Children's Collabrium
Founded in 1993 as the Child Development Policy Institute Education Fund (CDPI Education Fund), The Children’s Collabrium: A partnership for excellence in early education continuously works to transform research and information on early learning and development into sound policy and excellent practice. Whether it is through projects intended to increase the early care and education field’s knowledge of Preschool for California’s Children, the Building Child Care Collaborative, Futures in Management Institutes, research conferences, or publications, the organization strives to infuse what research tells us is best practice for children and families into the delivery of high quality programs and services, as well as policy at all levels. To learn more about The Children's Collabrium, its publications, projects, trainings, and resources, please visit the web site: www.thechildrenscollabrium.com.
California Child Care Resource and Referral Network
The California Child Care Resource and Referral Network (Network), established in 1980, works to address the needs of parents and child care providers throughout the state. Working with 61 local member agencies, the Network is involved in a variety of activities and projects, which assist child care providers in serving their communities, inform parents and the general public about quality child care, and encourage positive policy changes on the local, state, and federal levels. The BCC collaborative complements the Network's goal of expanding the supply of quality child care in the state. From early efforts such as the 1986 publication of "A Developer's Guide to Child Care" to more hands-on work with training and technical assistance of child care providers and local advocates, the Network has maintained a focus on addressing the availability of child care in California's community. Most recently through the Child Care Initiative Project, the Network has built public/private partnerships that work to expand the supply of family child care homes. In addition, the Network has been funded to document the availability of licensed child care providers as well as the demand for child care services using data from their 61 member agencies. To learn more about the Network, its publications, projects, and resources, please visit the web site: www.rrnetwork.org.
The Low Income Investment Fund
LIIF is a community development financial intermediary with more than 20 years of experience infusing low income communities with the capital, expertise and sustained support they need to build affordable homes, thriving neighborhoods and quality school and child care spaces. LIIF works to ensure access to high quality child care spaces by providing financing and other assistance programs for the creation, expansion, improvement and preservation of child care facilities throughout California and in New York City. LIIF's child care initiatives are responsive to the specific needs of communities five strategies common to all its programs: (1) grants and loans for facilities development; (2) assistance in finding additional sources of capital financing; (3) training to strengthen the business side of child care;(4) partnerships with community real estate developers, and (5) alliances with advocates to inform public policy. LIIF has developed an array of child care facility financing and development materials that are included in the BCC "one-stop" clearinghouse for statewide resource development. LIIF's financial background is an asset for reviewing the efficiency and effectiveness of the current publicly funded programs. More information about LIIF and its services and staff, can be found on the web site: www.liifund.org.
