 National Association for Family Child Care
NAFCC is dedicated to strengthening
the profession of family child care by promoting high quality, professional
early care and education and strengthening communities where providers live
and work. |
Minnesota Association for the Education of the Young Child and
the Institute for Professional Development
The Minnesota Association for the Education
of Young Children is a nonprofit association of over 1,500 professionals in
Early Childhood Education and related fields working together on behalf of
young children and their families. |
 The
National Association for the Education of Young Children
The National Association for the Education
of Young Children (NAEYC) is dedicated to improving the well-being of all
young children, with particular focus on the quality of educational and
developmental services for all children from birth through age 8. Founded in
1926, NAEYC is the world's largest organization working on behalf of young
children with nearly 100,000 members, a national network of over 300 local,
state, and regional Affiliates, and a growing global alliance of like-minded
organizations. |
 The
Minnesota Professional Development Council
Supporting Professionals who Educate, Advocate
and Care for Children, Youth, and Families. With a mission to facilitate
development and ongoing coordination of an inclusive collaborative of the
early childhood and youth professional development system in Minnesota. This
organization is responsible for the creation of the Minnesota
Core
Competencies. |
National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
NACCRRA is the national network of
more than 850 child care resource and referral centers (CCR&Rs) located in
every state and most communities across the US. CCR&R centers help families,
child care providers, and communities find, provide, and plan for affordable,
quality child care. Since 1987, NACCRRA has been working to improve the system
of early learning for children by: Providing training, resources, and
best practices standards to local and state CCR&Rs that support high quality,
accountable services; and promoting national policies and partnerships that
facilitate universal access to quality child care. |
 The Minnesota
Child Care Resource & Referral Network
works to provide information and
support for quality child care that is affordable and accessible for all
Minnesota families. A wide variety of information, support, and services are
available on a statewide basis through the Network offices located in St.
Paul, and are available locally throughout Minnesota through the twenty-two
CCR&R network member sites. |
 Eager-to-Learn,
a program of the Minnesota Child Care Resource & Referral Network, is
designed to provide high quality, affordable in-service training
opportunities using electronic or E-Learning technologies and experienced,
well-trained instructors. |
 Thirteen of Minnesota's Community and Technical Colleges are working together
for you through
E-LECT (e-learning
for early childhood teachers), offering high quality credit-based child
development courses, certificate, diploma, and A.A.S. degree on-line. Take
courses anytime, anywhere. With E-LECT, a college
education is as close as your computer. |
 Ready 4 K
Minnesota Ready 4 K
seeks to unite parents, communities, organizations and policymakers
to act and advocate for school readiness. In cooperation with many leaders
in the early care and education fields, Ready4K has developed policy
proposals that integrate the early childhood system, enhance parent
education, and improve professional early care and education. |
 The
Child Care WORKS coalition, established in 1983, brings together
parents, caregivers and advocates across Minnesota to improve child care
services for all families. This is an exceptional source of current
legislative information and policies on all issues regarding children. |
 The
Children's Defense Fund and
Children's Defense Fund
Minnesota. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the
children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay
particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with
disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and
encourages preventive investment before they get sick or into trouble, drop
out of school, or suffer family breakdown. |
|
 Redleaf
National Institute--Redleaf
National Institute is a division of Resources for Child Caring, a nonprofit
organization located in St. Paul, Minnesota. We work closely with
Redleaf Press, another division of Resources for Child Caring, which
publishes business resources and other materials for child care
professionals.
|
 Resources
for Child Caring Resources
for Child Caring is a nationally recognized non-profit (50lc3) organization
specializing in issues related to child care. Our mission is to improve the
lives of children by strengthening and supporting the people who care for
them. Carol Rohde is the executive director. Three key values drive our
mission: quality, diversity, and accessibility. Today we offer a variety of
services and programs that support child care professionals, parents, and
diverse communities in nuturing young children. We have also remained a
consistent voice in support of a functional child care system in Minnesota and
the nation. Redleaf National Institute is a division of Resources for Child
Caring. |
 Early Childhood & School-Age Trainers Association
MECSATA is an organization committed to
promoting and supporting early childhood and school age trainers in the areas
of professional growth and development, leadership, and advocacy for the
field. This organization shall make every active effort to be inclusive of
the personal, cultural, and professional diversity of people desiring
membership and leadership within MECSATA. MECSATA will provide opportunities
to network and develop contacts within the field. MECSATA will encourage the
professional development of trainers through conferences, meetings, speakers,
newsletters, and any other activities agreed upon by the Board of Directors. |
The Center for
Inclusive Child Care
(formerly Project Exceptional) is a statewide network for promoting and supporting inclusive early childhood
and school-age programs and providers in Minnesota. This network provides
leadership, administrative support, training and consultation to early care
and education providers, school-age care providers, parents and the
professionals who support providers and parents of children with special
needs. |
 Minnesota Autism Center
(MAC) provides early intervention services for children with autism up to age
6 (approximately) and educational programs for people providing care for
autistic children. |
 The
National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome
(NCSBS) is the only worldwide
organization that is dedicated solely to the prevention of this form of child
abuse. The National Center has been providing leadership in the development of
prevention programs, training courses and public education campaigns. |
 The Child Care Nutrition
Resource System provides you with recipes,
resources, and information on preparing nutritious meals and food safety.
This is a great tool for providers who participate in USDA's Child and Adult
Care Food Program (CACFP) and receive reimbursement for meals served. |
 Parent
Aware is a tool designed by child care providers, early
learning professionals and parents, Minnesota’s voluntary Parent Aware
Rating Tool is intended to support our state’s children by creating a rating
system which identifies, recognizes and celebrates quality in early
education. The rating tool will recognize early educators for the quality of
care they deliver and build on this quality by supporting their efforts at
program improvements. |
 Kids
Count is a national and state-by-state effort
to track the status of children in the U.S. By providing policymakers and
citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, KIDS COUNT seeks to enrich
local, state, and national discussions concerning ways to secure better
futures for all children. This great resource includes the
Kids Count
Data Book online,
CLIKS with
county, city, and community level information,
Census Data
and more. |
![Home to the Minnesota Department of Human Services. [Link to the Home Page.]](dhs.gif) The Minnesota Department of Human Services has much information about
child care programs. You can even
view current listings of licensed child are providers sorted by county. |
 The U.S. Department of Education
contains a wealth of information and
the ability to order publications online. |
 A Great Resource...
The WebGuide
is a directory that evaluates, describes and provides links to hundreds of
sites containing child development research and practical advice. Topics are
selected on the basis of parent recommendations; they cover all ages, from
early child development through adolescence and much more.
|
 Minnesota School-Age Care Alliance
MNSACA
is an association of 700 child/youth focused professionals who provide care to
school-age children and youth in school, park, home and agency settings during
out-of-school hours. |
 The
Better Kid Care Satellite Trainings are available for viewing on your
computer with the
Real Media Basic Player,
which you can download for free. After you have installed and configured
RealPlayer, click the links below to view the videos. |
 Caring
for Kids
are four page information sheets on a variety of topics. The
files are in PDF format, so you will need to have Adobe Reader installed and
working on your computer to open these. |
 These are two page information sheets from
Penn
State. The files are in PDF format, so you will need to have Adobe
Reader installed and working on your computer to open these. |
Minnesota
STREAMS to Quality
Minnesota STREAMS to Quality is a
tool designed to serve people who care for children by offering educational
opportunities, grants, and financial incentives. This website is for: family
child care providers, child care center staff, Head Start, school-age/out of
school time program staff, parent educators, parents, and all others
interested in the health and development of children. |
 University of Minnesota Extension Service--Information
on searching for quality child care and other issues. Also able to access INFO
U at this address. |
 CAPI--The Center for Asians and Pacific Islanders--The
Centre for Asians and Pacific Islanders is a direct service and informational
agency that assists Southeast Asian families to contribute to the economic and
social fabric of Minnesota while maintaining their unique cultural heritage
and values. |
|
 Council
for Professional Recognition--The governing body for CDA (Child
Development Associate) credential. |
|
 ACEI--The
Association for Childhood Education International
The Mission of the Association for Childhood
Education International (ACEI) is to promote and support in the global
community the optimal education and development of children, from birth
through early adolescence, and to influence the professional growth of
educators and the efforts of others who are committed to the needs of
children in a changing society. |
|
  The
Children, Youth, and Families Education Research Network
If you're a professional serving children, youth and families
or a parent with your own children, you know that finding reliable, high
quality, research-based information on the Web can be a major challenge.
That's where CYFERnet can help you. CYFERnet's Web site brings together the
best, children, youth and family resources of all the public land-grant
universities in the country. Materials are carefully reviewed by college and
university faculty. Through CYFERnet you can also interact with your
colleagues and share your work nationally. |
 Minnesota Association for
Family & Early Education...
The professional organization for administrators, providers and supporters
of high quality family and early childhood education for all families with
young children throughout the State of Minnesota.
|
|
 The
National Child Care Information Center (NCCIC),
a project of the Child
Care Bureau, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, is a national resource that links information
and people to complement, enhance, and promote the child care delivery
system, working to ensure that all children and families have access to
high-quality comprehensive services |
|
 NNCC--The
National Network for Child Care--The web site of cooperative Extension
Services (includes links to issues of Family Child Care Connections) |
 The
ABC's of Safe and Healthy Child Care
cover many issues including health
and safety issues for providers, but this
fact
sheet on childhood diseases can be extremely helpful. |
 Child Care Resources
is a leader, advocating for quality child care and the needs of both
families and child care professionals. As in other fields, we can
use technology as a training tool, enabling child care professionals to
access high quality, interactive training at their convenience. This web
site is specifically for that purpose.
|
 ChildCareExchange
is a place to find some of the best Internet resources for providers,
directors, teachers and parents. |
|
 USA
Child Care
is an organization for child care providers who believe that all
children deserve high quality care. Their mission is to bring the
voice of direct services providers to national and state policy dialogue. |
National Fire Prevention Association
NFPA teaches people of all ages how to make
responsible choices regarding health and safety. One of our most important
commitments is to give people the knowledge and skills they need to lead safer
lives. Also the home of
Sparky the Fire Dog's
official website. |
 Family Communications,
producers of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood has a website with resources for
families, educators, and early education and child care. |
The Sesame Workshop--A link to our Sesame Street friends.
Sesame Workshop is a nonprofit educational organization making a
meaningful difference in the lives of children worldwide by addressing their
critical developmental needs. The Workshop is committed to the principle
that all children deserve a chance to learn and grow; to be prepared for
school; to better understand the world and each other; to think, dream and
discover; to reach their highest potential.
|
US Consumer Product Safety Commission--Check
out product recalls on items you may have in your child care home. Also has
Kid Site with lessons on safety and fun games to play
while learning. |
Safe Kids Worldwide
Safe Kids Worldwide is a global network of
organizations whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood injury, a
leading killer of children 14 and under. Lots of information about how
to keep children safe, including seat belts, car seats, etc. |
PBS
TeacherSource
For more than 30 years, teachers have trusted PBS's quality
programming and educational services. Maintaining that trust is the foundation
of PBS's mission to serve educators and learners. |
|
 Minnesota Office of the Governor
Governor Tim Pawlenty
Lt. Governor Carol Molnau
|
 Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statues--Access
Minnesota Legal Statues |
 Minnesota Senate Web Site. |
 Minnesota House Web Site. |
