Opportunity Council’s Early Learning and Family Services Department (in which CCR&R is located) has entered a partnership with the Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) at the University of Washington. CEL is dedicated to eliminating the achievement gap that continues to divide our nation’s children along the lines of race, class, language, and disability. Opportunity Council’s work with CEL focuses on:

• Being the first non-profit organization to partner with CEL in an effort to increase the quality of early care and education
• Determining a Theory of Action and strategies to ensure we meet our goals and move closer to our vision of serving children and families holistically
• Assessing a leadership framework to guide our work internally as well as with our community partners

CCR&R is the link to early childhood educators in the PreK-3rd Alignment Initiative taking place across Washington State. Our regional goal is to ensure that all children are ready for kindergarten and maintain achievement over time, ultimately meeting and/or exceeding 3rd grade standards. In terms of aligning early learning experiences:

• P-3 is a critical strategy for school reform
• Quality leadership must reach across multiple P-3 delivery systems
• Collaborative leadership must require an understanding of adaptive work to create systemic change, infrastructures, relationships, and agreements that fully support all children in a developmentally appropriate manner, leading to success in our K-12 public school system
• CCR&R has created a Professional Learning Community, consisting of early childhood educators; child care providers in this cohort engage in co-learning in order to align their literacy teaching and learning practices with those of their school districts

In collaboration with Northwest Early Learning, CCR&R and ESD 189 are researching the systems, services, and supports available for infants, toddlers, and their families. We are gathering information on strengths, needs, and opportunities for infants and toddlers to help DEL direct three years of funding intended to increase the quality of services to our region’s youngest (age birth to three) and those who care for them.

CCR&R Program Manager serves on the Whatcom Community College and Bellingham Technical College Early Childhood Education Community Advisory Committee.

CCR&R continues to co-facilitate and support the Early Learning Coalitions of our service delivery area, as well as our five-county ESD, consisting of Regions C and D.

CCR&R also partners with Communities In Schools (CIS) and serves on its Founding Board of Directors. CIS is a non-profit organization that focuses on school success by working to eliminate the high school drop-out rate through mentoring and extracurricular activities.

If you are a Community Partner and would like to add or update your information with Child Care Resource and Referral, click here.