Advocacy
The Lake County Child Care Planning Council believes that all young children deserve the early care and education they need to be successful in school and life. Our children are our future neighbors, doctors, firefighters and leaders. With the great majority of parents in the workforce, most of Lake County's youngest citizens are in non-parental care for some portion of their day.
Access to affordable, quality child care is crucial to supporting Lake County's workforce and its youngest citizens. Quality child care, at a minimum, is healthy, consistent and safe, and access to that kind of care supports healthy development and school readiness while parents work.
According to our 2007 Child Care Needs Assessment:
Lake County needs an additional 1,357 regular child care spaces to meet the demographic needs of our communities.*
Lake County needs an additional 1,529 preschool, 757 kindercare, and 4,581 comprehensive after school spaces to met the demographic needs of our communities.*
Without subsidies, most Lake County families cannot afford child care. By 2010 it is estimated that 85% of workforce will consist of parents.
For quality child care to be available throughout Lake County, providers must make a self sufficient wage, with appropriate benefits, and professional development opportunities
To be self-sufficient in Lake County, a single adult with one infant and one preschooler must make $34,460/year or $16.32/hour. Nearly half of Lake County families (48.8%) make less than $35,000/year
Our goal is to educate and inform our community, enabling you to vote for and speak out for issues affecting our county's children. Becoming aware of specific issues facing our communities is the first step.
Following are links to more information. Join us in raising our voices for Lake County's children.
Action Aliance for Children www,4children.org
California Association for the Education of Young Children caeyc.org/main/page/navhome
California Association for Family Child Care www.cafcc.org/
California Child Care Resource and Referral Network www.rrnetwork.org/
Child Development Policy Institute www.cdpi.net/cs/cdpi/print/htdocs/home.htm
Children Now www.childrennow.org/index.html
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California www.fightcrime.org/ca/
On the Capitol Doorstep www.otcdkids.com/
Parent Voices www.parentvoices.org/
California Assembly www.assembly.ca.gov/defaulttext.asp
California Senate www.sen.ca.gov/
Annie E. Casey Foundation www.aecf.org/
Children's Defense Fund www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer
Center for the Child Care Workforce www.ccw.org/
National Center for Children in Poverty www.nccp.org/
Child Care Law Center www.childcarelaw.org/
California Department of Education Child Development Division www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/
California Child Development Administrators Association www.ccdaa.org
Child Development Training Consortium www.childdevelopment.org