Child Care Resource Service | Illinois

Office / Phone Hours
8:30 am- 4:30 pm
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
11:00 am - 4:30 pm
Tuesday

State and National Links for Child Care Providers

State and National Links for Child Care Providers

Advocate for children! Stay current on child care issues by connecting with child care provider organizations in the state and at the national level.

National Accreditation and Credentialing Programs

State Credentialing Program

Illinois Gateways to Opportunity Credentials:

  • ECE- Illinois Early Childhood Education Credential Levels 1-6
  • IDC- Illinois Directors Credential Levels 1-3
  • ITC- Infant Toddler Credential Levels 1-6
  • SAYD - School-Age and Youth Development Level 1-5
  • FCC - Family Child Care Credential Level 1-5
  • FSC - Family Specialist Credential Levels 2-5

State of Illinois

Providers wanting information about the state initiative "Preschool For All" can find information on the Illinois State Board of Education or the Illinois Early Learning Council at the link below.

Preschool for All - Preschool For All, food programs, other resources
Early Childhood Education Division
100 N. First
Springfield, IL 62777
217/524-4835

Gateways to Opportunity - registry, credentials, trainings, financial, support and more
1226 Towanda Plaza
Bloomington, IL 61701
Phone: 888-548-8080
Email: info@ilgateways.com         

PSO/Illinois Child Care Association - a child care association to help everyone
310 East Adams
Springfield, Illinois 62701
1(877)912-ICCA (4222)
   

Federal/National Issues

National Association of Family Child Care (NAFCC)
1743 W. Alexander St. Suite 201
Salt Lake City, Utah 64119
Phone: 1-801-886-2322

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
1313 L St., NW Suite 500
Washington, DC 20090
1-800-424-2460

Association for Early Learning Leaders
P.O. Box 90723
1250 S. Capial of Texas Highway Building 3 Ste #400
Austin, TX 78746
(800) 537-1118
(512) 301-5080 FAX
email: info@earlylearningleaders.org
website: www.naccp.org

National Child Care Association
1325 G Street, NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005
800-543-7161
Email: info@nccanet.org
Website: www.nccanet.org

Worldwide Advocacy

Child Welfare League of America
The Child Welfare League (CWLA) advocates on behalf of the nation's most vulnerable children and families to ensure their voices are heard in the White House and in the halls of Congress. www.cwla.org

National Association of Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA)
NACCRRA provides national leadership to building quality child care systems, community by community and neighborhood by neighborhood. www.naccrra.org

Stand for Children
Stand for Children is a nonpartisan national organization whose members, chapters, and staff are working to ensure that all children have the opportunity to grown up healthy, educated and safe. www.stand.org

Teaching Strategies
Site offers hundreds of pages of free materials for educators, recommended links, articles by prominent authors, and resources. www.TeachingStrategies.com

Zero to Three
The nation's leading resource on the first three years of life. www.zerotothree.org

Worthy Wages for Early Childhood Educators (AFT - A Union of Professionals)
The Worthy Wage Network is a broad-based, easy-to-join "mobilization" of teachers, providers, directors, parents, and allies of all kinds, calling for a major investment of public funds that is directly targeted to improving child care jobs.  Site is working to be the premiere source of information on child care workforce

Mathematica Policy Research
Site offers the latest research on new policy briefs, reports, journal articles and other work. www.mathematica-mpr.com

National Black Child Development Institute
The National Black Child Development Institute is a major initiative to build diverse leadership in the early care and education field. www.nbcdi.org

Civitas Initiative
Civitas transforms leading edge research into practical information for parents, caregivers and frontline professionals. www.civitas.org

Children's Defense Fund
The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind.  It provides a strong voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. www.childrensdefense.org

Voices for Illinois Children
Voices for Illinois Children is an advocacy group for children.  They have had many ads on radio and TV lately for better wages and training for child care providers and the importance of early learning. www.voices4kids.org

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids
This site offers several links about school violence and efforts to prevent youth violence and delinquency. www.fightcrime.org

INCCRRA (Illinois Network of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies)
Helps locate resource and referral agencies that serve other counties in Illinois, supplies information to both parents and the public regarding child care, and provides information on training opportunities for providers .http://www.inccrra.org