Helpful Resources

 
Reports & Fact Sheets

   Illinois Early Learning Council

   KIDS COUNT Data Book

   The Business of Early Care and Education in Illinois:Providers' Tools for Improving Quality

   The Economic of the Early Care and Education Industry in Illinois

   Preschool For All and Providers: Questions and Answers

   Examples of State PreK Program Models Used by Child Care and Head Start Agencies

   Developing Your Statement of Need for for the Early Childhood Block Grant RFP 

External Links

National Child Care Association

The Mission of the National Child Care Association is to promote the growth and safeguard the interest of quality childhood care and education focusing on licensed, private providers of these services.

Illinois Department of Human Services

DHS is Illinois' largest agency, with more than 19,000 employees and an annual budget of nearly $5 billion.  DHS serves Illinois citizens through seven main programs:

• Alcoholism and substance abuse treatment and prevention services;
• Developmental disabilities;
• Health services for pregnant women and mothers, infants, children and adolescents;
• Prevention services for domestic violence and at-risk youth;
• Mental health
• Rehabilitation services; and
• Welfare programs, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Food Stamps, and child care. 
  

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services

Here you will find timely information about Child Protection, Foster Care, Adoption, Day Care and Services provided by one of the largest state child welfare agencies in the U.S. 

The Illinois Network of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (INCCRRA)

The Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies is an organization of regional Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) agencies serving communities throughout the state of Illinois. Illinois CCR&Rs work in partnership with parents, business leaders, government officials, and child care providers to make high quality child care available to Illinois families.

Child Care Information Exchange

Child Care Information Exchange has been a leading source of support, encouragement, and up-to-date information on childcare management for 25 years. 

Voices for Illinois Children 

Voices for Illinois Children is a non-profit, non-partisan, statewide group of child advocates who believe all children deserve the opportunity to succeed. Voices for Illinois Children examines conditions facing children, proposes thoughtful solutions and rallies support for public policies that benefit children.  

The Ounce of Prevention Fund

The Ounce of Prevention Fund is engaged in a dynamic cycle of innovation and is reaching out to help children and families in vigorous and enterprising ways.

Chicago Metropolis 2020

The premise of the Metropolis Project was that the issues facing the region - Cook, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, Kane and Will counties - are interdependent. There are numerous issues vital to our social and economic well-being, which must be addressed regionally. These issues relate to unlimited, low density sprawl; concentration of poor minorities; the spatial mismatch between jobs, affordable housing and transportation; and disparate degrees of access to quality education.

The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation (MTF)

The Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation (MTF) was originally established as a charitable trust upon the death, in 1955, of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune.   The foundation currently supports grantmaking in four areas, promoting local philanthropy through its communities program; working to improve early childhood education in the Chicago area; supporting journalism and a free press in the Americas; encouraging active citizenship and volunteerism; and supporting special initiatives at institutions generally within the Chicago metropolitan region.

 
Action for Children

Action for Children, formerly the Day Care Action Council of Illinois, has championed the cause of quality child care and early education for families and children throughout Illinois for 35 years. 

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

This Small Business section of the webpage contains useful model business forms, checklists, official government forms, and spreadsheet templates.