Child Care Champions™

Child Care Champions™ (CCC) is an innovative program offering education and support for child care providers and thereby impacting the present and future lives of thousands of children by improving the quality of child care in the greater Dallas area.   Since its inception in October of 2009, CCC has provided over 500 trainings and consultations, touching over 3,000 child care workers and impacting the lives of an estimated 9,000 children.

It is estimated that over 180,000 Dallas County children under the age of six (approximately 75% of the early childhood population) are cared for at least a portion of each day outside of their homes.    Recent advances in neuroscience confirm that 90% of a child’s brain development occurs in the first five years of life and is highly influenced by the interactions with people and the environments in which the young child spends time.

Research also shows that high quality care is associated positively with virtually every facet of children’s development and that a competent and well-supported workforce is linked to high quality outcomes for young children and their families.  Child care providers are among the lowest paid workers in our society (average income is $16,260 annually) and yet their care has far-reaching impact in shaping our society as they are literally helping build the brains of our future citizens.

CCC addresses the development of a competent workforce of early childhood teachers and caregivers through an array of support programs including on-site trainings, classroom consultations, counseling and behavioral coaching for individual children, and program evaluation.

CCC works in collaboration with many other early childhood professional groups in Dallas including Brookhaven Community College, Child Care Group, KERA, the Texas Association of Infant Mental Health, Child Care Alliance, Educational First Steps, several Home Child Care Association groups, and others.  Our services are provided by masters level professionals in the field of early childhood based on state of the art, research-based practices.

Our trainers are registered with the Texas Early Care and Education Career Development System and child care providers and administrators may use the trainings to meet their State required training hours.

To learn more about the program or to schedule trainings, contact the following staff:

Suzy Armstrong, M. Ed.

CCC Program Director

972-991-6777, Ext. 7115

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Lillian Passauer, LCSW

Licensed Clinical Social Worker

CCC Trainer/Consultant

972-991-6777, Ext. 7174

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Karla and Toddler

From left to right – Tina Sasser, Public Outreach; Suzy Armstrong, Child Care Champions Project Coordinator; Betty Ablon, Child Care Champions Infant Mental Health Consultant; and Lynne Gaukler, RN, LPC.  Betty is leading us in a Child Care Champions Train the Trainers activity.

Karla and Toddler