About the Project

The CARES Training and Technical Assistance Project (CARES TA Project) is a joint effort of Working for Quality Child Care, a Project of United Way of the Bay Area (W4QCC), the Child Development Training Consortium (CDTC), and First 5 California, which is also the funder for the Project.

The CARES TA Project offers convenings, technical assistance and resources for CARES Program administrators and partners, which highlight promising practices and current research on the early childhood workforce. The annual CARES conference, regional meetings, and conference calls are all designed to network administrators and partners across California to stimulate a sharing of program design and solutions to challenging issues. In addition, consultation and training on the Child Development Permit is offered by CDTC.

Services Provided

• Pre-Conference Institute on workforce development at the State First 5 Conference: The Annual First 5 California Conference will be held on April 14-16, 2009 in San Francisco. A Pre-Conference Institute focusing on workforce development including CARES, will be held on April 14. More information regarding this conference will be available soon.
• Statewide conference calls: Cutting edge practices in CARES program implementation and innovative collaborations are featured in quarterly interactive calls. For audio files of past calls and topics, go to Conference Calls in the Resource Library.
• Regional meetings: Counties learn from other counties in their region about hands-on implementation practices through regional meetings with discussions and presentation. The Central Valley, Sacramento Area, Northern California, and Southern California each meet annually. Bay Area meetings are held every other month. The Events page has both upcoming meeting announcements and a search for "Regional Meetings" will provide past meeting summaries.
• CARES discussion forum: CARES administrators and partners post live inquiries about program practices to one another. This forum requires a login to post or participate in the discussion, please join the project to join the discussion.
• County data comparisons: Past county progress reports are posted and cross-referenced to our database. For more about different structures of CARES programs, which counties offer bilingual stipends, and who collaborates with their local community colleges, etc. see the reports.
• Technical assistance is available to CARES administrators by phone or email. Working for Quality Child Care staff are at hand to answer any questions you may have about workforce development, community collaborations, best practices etc. You can email us or call (415) 808-7327.