ARLINGTON, VA, August 17, 2022 —  Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) announced that Chief Executive Officer Dr. Lynette M. Fraga is leaving the organization early in 2023.  

Child Care Aware^® of America mourns the senseless loss of children and adults from a mass shooting yesterday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Our hearts are broken for the families who have lost their children, for a school full of children who are now forever impacted resulting from the horrific trauma they have experienced, and for a community that is forever changed as it grieves. 

 The “pandemic of violence” that has made tragedies like this across the United States all too common cannot continue.  

 Whether children have witnessed a violent event, or have seen coverage of events in the news, it is important for parents and caregivers to be ready to help and talk about their feelings. Visit our resource page to help children understand and cope after facing traumatic events, including a fact sheet that outlines what stress may look like in children younger than five years old (also available in Spanish).  

Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) will lead Provider Appreciation Day® on May 6 to recognize and celebrate the efforts of child care providers across the country. 

Provider Appreciation Day® is celebrated the Friday before Mother’s Day every year to recognize child care providers, teachers and other educators of young children everywhere. CCAoA convenes Provider Appreciation Day® each year to amplify our nation’s collective gratitude for those who support the social, emotional and physical care of our youngest children. 

 “Child care providers were ‘essential’ long before the pandemic. They keep our children safe, nurture their curiosity and prepare them for a lifetime of learning and growth,” said Lynette M. Fraga, Ph.D., CEO of CCAoA. “Together with our network of Child Care Resource and Referral agencies, nonprofit and business partners, we invite you to join us in thanking and celebrating child care providers across the nation.” 

 Child Care Aware^® of America’s 2022 Symposium on May 1-4 in Arlington, Virginia, will bring together Child Care Resource and Referral professionals, child care providers, parents, policymakers, funders and the business community to tackle complex issues and strategize ways to transform the child care system during this pivotal moment. 

Featured speakers will include Indra K. Nooyi, who served as CEO and chairman of PepsiCo from 2006 to 2019 and is one of the world’s most sought-after advisors to entrepreneurs, executives and governments. She is also revered as a role model for women and immigrants, and celebrated for her empowering messages on inclusivity. 

The symposium will also feature Ai-jen Poo, a next-generation labor leader, award-winning organizer, author and a leading voice in the women’s movement. She is the Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Director of Caring Across Generations, Co-Founder of SuperMajority and a Trustee of the Ford Foundation. 

The symposium will include tracks on:  

• Innovative Programs and Practices 
• Transforming Child Care Through Data, Research and Policy 
• The Business of Child Care 
• Transforming Child Care Into an Equitable System 

It will also include an Advocacy Day, giving participants an opportunity to meet with their elected officials’ offices to share critical on-the-ground perspectives from the child care field that will help inform long-term investments in federal child care funding. 

For more information and to register: https://hubs.li/Q016TVdB0 

Child Care Aware of America joined the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, along with 45 civil rights and education organizations, to release Civil Rights Principles for Early Care and Education on March 9. The principles outline how decision makers at all levels can ensure an education system that offers meaningful equal opportunity and success for all children, especially those who have been historically marginalized.

"CCAoA is proud to have contributed to the development of these Civil Rights Principles for Early Care and Education," said Mario Cardona, CCAoA Chief of Policy and Practice. "They identify fundamental elements of early learning that protect civil rights and advance equity for children, families, staff and providers."

CCAoA is the first organization focused on child care to become a member of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. 

Learn more about the Civil Rights Principles for Early Care and Education.

Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) today released a new report and interactive website that outline how the U.S. child care system has changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The report, titled Demanding Change: Repairing our Child Care System, highlights new survey data showing that nearly 16,000 child care providers (8,900 child care centers and 7,000 licensed family child care programs) permanently closed from December 2019 to March 2021 in 37 states for which data was available. This represents a 9% decrease in child care providers. The survey data also shows that the national annual average price of child care in 2020 was around $10,174, a 5% increase from 2019 and at a rate faster than the increase in the price for consumer goods over the same period of time.  
 
The report contains sections on child care supply, demand, affordability, and the child care workforce. Each section features data from CCAoA’s annual survey of Child Care Resource and Referral agencies and other state partners, along with case studies that focus on critical issues facing our country and how they impact the child care system, including equity, COVID‑19, the role of data and the economy. 
 
Explore the interactive website and report: childcareaware.org/demanding-change 

Mario Cardona, Child Care Aware® of America’s Chief of Policy and Practice, has been selected for a Pahara Fellowship, a one-year program that identifies exceptional leaders in the educational excellence and equity movement, facilitates their dynamic growth, and strengthens their collective efforts to dramatically improve public education, especially those programs serving low-income children and communities. 

Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) today announced the expansion of a disaster preparedness project for Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agencies in Midwest states. This project is one of the many ways that CCAoA builds capacity within the child care system in order to advance equity and to impact the quality of care for children and families. 
 
Most recently, the project involved CCR&R agencies in Iowa, Missouri (Kansas City metro area), Montana and Oklahoma working to integrate child care needs at all levels and phases of emergencies. It also promoted cross-sector collaboration by ensuring first responders, secondary responders, emergency managers, business leaders and elected officials recognize the needs of children and the child care workforce before, during and after disaster.  

Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) announced today that it is launching the Future of Quality Child Care Initiative, an in-depth examination of how child care quality can be improved when inequities are removed, parent preferences are affirmed, and all providers are valued equally.  

CCAoA approaches this topic with a level of curiosity and purpose in service to a moment where the transformation of the child care system is at hand. It is urgent and required for re-envisioning equity within a system that is currently inequitable. The initiative’s goal is to clarify what quality means for early childhood education across provider settings, including home-based care and care offered during non-traditional hours. It will include an analysis of the pandemic’s impact on care and will be informed by input from child care providers, educators, parents, children, employers and other organizations.  
 
CCAoA will publish policy, research and practice recommendations on professional development and learning, resource allocation, provider capacity building, quality rating and improvement, and licensure beginning in the summer of 2022. This work will help policymakers, advocates and providers better understand how to create measures of quality that are equitable and benefit both children and the child care field. 

Lynette M. Fraga, Ph.D., CEO of Child Care Aware® of America, released the following statement in response to passage of the Build Back Better Act in the House of Representatives: 

Today we are one step closer to making an accessible, affordable child care system a reality for families and children across the country. To the Representatives that voted to advance the Build Back Better Act – thank you.  

High-quality child care and preschool support the well-being and economic security of our children, families and communities. Our future as a country – both immediate and long-term – requires a path forward towards a more equitable system of early learning that has robust support.  

The Build Back Better Act would put us on that path by investing long-term to make high-quality child care affordable and accessible for millions of families and ensure universal preschool is available for all 3- and 4-year-old children. 

As family budgets are stretched, there is urgency for Congress to act and get the Build Back Better Act across the finish line. It’s time to get this done.