Community Connections for Children History
Founded in 1987
Community Connections for Children, Inc. (CCC) has served the community for over 30 years. As the Early Learning Resource Center for Regions 9 & 10, CCC is committed to helping children, families, and early childhood education programs be successful. We support low-income working families in paying for child care and provide resources, training, and on-site technical assistance to early childhood education providers to help them improve their program to ensure that every child is successful in school and life. Through the Child Care Works and Keystone STARS programs, we serve approximately 24,000 children, families, and early childhood education programs a year in Adams, Centre, Clinton, Cumberland, Dauphin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lycoming, Mifflin, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Tioga, Union, and York counties. As a non-profit child care resource and referral agency, CCC helps parents find child care and provides guidance on selecting quality care that meets your needs. CCC works with employers interested in promoting work/life balance, provides leadership to community-supported child care initiatives and advocates on behalf of child care issues at the local, state, and national level.
Preparing Children for Kindergarten and Success
CCC works collaboratively with child care providers, parents, government, businesses and community leaders to assure that all families have access to affordable high quality child care. The board and staff at CCC believe that the children of today are critical to our future and recognize that parents, as diverse individuals, have the right and responsibility to make choices for their children’s future.
Research shows that the connectors in our brain for language, math, creativity, and self-reliance multiply at amazing rates before age five, before children start school. The experiences a child has – both positive and negative – affect how many neural connections are made. After age five, these connections are harder to make. While parents are children’s first teachers, they often need support. We know that children who have access to quality early learning opportunities are better prepared to enter kindergarten and are more successful in school and life. Children who do not receive quality child care are less prepared for kindergarten and those that enter school behind their peers have a hard time catching up and reading on grade level by third grade. Children who are not reading on grade level by third grade are more likely to drop out of school and become incarcerated.
Quality early childhood education has an economic impact on our communities. Parents who can’t find care or are worried about the quality of care their child is receiving are unable to work or are less productive at work. Managers at several large businesses have told Community Connections for Children that they have staffing issues due to a lack of quality child care in their communities. This problem is exacerbated by the lack of funds to help their low wage earners pay for quality care. Barry Griswell, the CEO of Principal Financial Group, stated, “There is nothing more important for our future than helping children learn. The research proves how important quality early learning is for brain and cognitive development. All of us must step up and improve conditions for children in neighborhoods where they need it most.”
Community Connections for Children is committed to ensuring that all children headed off to kindergarten are prepared to be successful.
