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 

• COA – Council on Accreditation – Early Childhood 
• Association for Early Learning Leaders 
• NAFCC – National Association of Family Child Care Accreditation 
• NAEYC – National Association for the Education of Young Children Accreditation
• NECPA – National Early Childhood Program Accreditation 
• Cognia 
• AMS – American Montessori Society 
• CDA (Child Development Associate) Credential- Council for Professional Recognition
• CCP (Child Care Professional) Creditional and NAC (National Administrator Credential)- National Child Care Association   

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. Capital 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 (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 

ChildCare Aware of America provides national leadership to building quality child care systems, community by community and neighborhood by neighborhood.  https://www.childcareaware.org/  

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. http://stand.org/ 

Teaching Strategies offers hundreds of pages of free materials for educators, recommended links, articles by prominent authors, and resources. https://teachingstrategies.com/ 

Zero to Three is 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) 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 offers the latest research on new policy briefs, reports, journal articles and other work. www.mathematica-mpr.com 

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

Children’s Defense Fund has a mission 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 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 

Council for a Strong America offers several links about school violence and efforts to prevent youth violence and delinquency. https://www.strongnation.org/fightcrime 

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