Steps to Quality: Year 2—A Grow NJ Kids Family Child Care Initiative

Child Care Connection, Inc. is a Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) agency that promotes quality child care services in the greater Trenton community through a multi-pronged approach of parent information, child care resource development, child care provider training, and advocacy. For this project, Child Care Connection collaborates with two other CCR&R agencies, Programs for Parents and Community Child Care Solutions.

This project supports the participation of 45 providers in low-income neighborhoods in Perth Amboy, Newark, and the Trenton area in the Steps to Quality project. Steps to Quality is a partnership with the State of New Jersey to pilot and implement the Grow NJ Kids Quality Rating and Improvement System for Family Child Care. Grow NJ Kids for family child care assesses the care provided to children in family based child care and identifies areas of strength as well as areas in need of improvement. Quality enhancement efforts that are being offered and assessed as part of the intervention include: training, on-site coaching, technical assistance, provider support meetings, resource-sharing, and distribution of early learning materials to enhance children’s growth and development.

This project is providing valuable information to the state by helping to inform the future use of the Grow NJ Kids tool on a broader scale, as well as providing lessons learned to the early childhood field about effective supports and interventions for home-based early childhood providers. 

Learn more about Child Care Connection, Inc.

Learn more about Grow NJ Kids.