Washington, D.C. – August 28, 2015 – Thanks to a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) is pleased to announce that we are expanding our Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) technical assistance activities in targeted states to emphasize health, nutrition, and obesity prevention with the Health Child Care, Healthy Communities project.
In Healthy Child Care, Healthy Communities, selected state teams will develop and implement a technical assistance (TA) plan based on the state’s specific needs. CCAoA is especially interested in partnering with teams that consider how their work might support their state plan for child care.
Participants in the project will have the opportunity to:
- Demonstrate increased awareness and understanding of state child care needs around health, nutrition, and obesity prevention;
- Have developed effective, easily accessible health, nutrition and obesity prevention materials and tools for the child care community; and
- Have made changes to state child care licensing, policy and practices related to health, nutrition and obesity prevention.
Within the first year, participants will:
- Complete a needs assessment on state health, obesity and nutrition needs in child care settings;
- Develop advocacy strategies for health, obesity and nutrition issues so that teams can enhance state child care licensing, policy and practices;
- Identify needs and begin to develop state specific health, obesity and nutrition materials and tools;
- Network with other states and share best practices around health, nutrition and obesity prevention issues in child care; and
- Utilize information from Child Care Aware® of America’s licensing database, health, nutrition and obesity prevention materials, and tools to aid in Child Care Development Block Grant (CCDBG) implementation.
Applications:
The application period for the Healthy Child Care, Healthy Communities Project is now closed. Selected participants will be announced mid-October.
CCAoA will review the results to help determine the six to eight states that best demonstrate:
- The need to improve health of children in child care,
- The commitment to improve the health of children in child care, and
- The ability to dedicate the time, staff and resources to support the TA project.
For more information, contact Krista Scott, Senior Director of Child Care Health Policy at Krista.Scott@usa.childcareaware.org.
About Child Care Aware ® of America
Child Care Aware of America is our nation’s leading voice for child care. CCAoA works with state and local Child Care Resource and Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) and other community partners to ensure that all families have access to quality, affordable child care. CCAoA leads projects that increase the quality and availability of child care, offer comprehensive training to child care professionals, undertake research, and advocate for child care policies that improve the lives of children and families. To learn more, visit usa.childcareaware.org. Follow them on Twitter @USAChildCare and on Facebook at facebook.com/usachildcare.