The Children’s Resource and Referral of Santa Barbara County has been a pillar in the community for over 50 years. The grassroots nonprofit organization began in 1971 as various childcare programs and family workshops offered throughout parks in Santa Barbara. Today, CRR works with an astounding 725 licensed and licensed-exempt child care sites! The organization is composed of dedicated leaders who steward the mission to develop strong and healthy families by providing education, care, and resource systems to children, their parents, and caregivers. Notably, they were named NAFCC Accreditation Facilitation Project of the Year for their accomplishments in the county - and Santa Barbara itself is leading the country per capita of Nationally Accredited Family Child Care Providers.
CRR aims to emphasize a practice of empathy and compassion within the service provider practice. They offer programs which not only demonstrate these values, but also bolster them through their objective to educate about trauma-informed care and foster resilience in their providers and the children they serve. Their work is a convergence of 3 components- supporting child care providers, providing family resources, and child care assistance.
The CRR program for current and prospective child care providers offers educational activities, technical assistance, and ongoing support. These include professional development training workshops covering various topics such as child development, health and safety, and relationship-building strategies with parents. These involved child care providers are also mentored by a network of child care professionals who help to support each other and develop shared values.
CRR also provides an extensive list of information and resources for parents. One in-house resource is the parent café- a family strengthening program. The parent cafés are safe and welcoming, facilitated spaces for parents and caregivers to come together to engage in meaningful, reflective conversations that promote collaboration, peer-to-peer engagement, empowerment and leadership. Additionally, CRR helps to alleviate the cost burden of child care for many families. They offer multiple pathways to seek financial assistance in the form of subsidies or alternative payment programs.
In a testament to the capability of the program staff and the organization’s resources, CRR also hosts the Emergency Child Care Bridge Program, which aims to increase successful placement of foster children in child care settings, increase the current capacity of child care programs with foster children, and maximize funding to support child care needs of foster families. The program is comprised of 3 major components:
Emergency child care voucher: Families may receive a time-limited voucher, up to 12 months, to assist with child care costs for children in the foster care system
Child care navigator: The CRR child care navigator works with the eligible resource family and others authorized to assess child care opportunities and provides consumer education based on the child’s age and needs.
Trauma-informed care training and coaching: Through the Bridge Program child care providers have access to trauma informed care training and coaching. Training and coaching are intended to help child care providers learn practical strategies for working with children who have experienced trauma.
(Source: California Department of Social Services)
A commonality in these programs is early intervention. Early intervention is one of the key factors in mitigating the effects of ACEs, as increased support, access to resources, and education all work in tandem to improve outcomes for children and families. CRR recognizes that parents especially are a child’s foundation and effective care should entail helping them gain an understanding of their own ACEs to prevent perpetuating a negative cycle in their children.
The Children’s Resource and Referral vision is that every child and family deserves access to high-quality, safe, nurturing and inclusive environments that build a foundation for life-long learning. With CRR’s dedicated 50-year run, they have been instrumental in helping to engineer a path for all families and children in Santa Barbara County to access these crucial resources for wellbeing. It's amazing and inspiring to see the growth of CRR since those initial workshops in the park.
CRR commits to connecting with people and treating members of the community with respect, which they believe is one of the most important pillars for success. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, CRR had to devise ways of maintaining their connection with families - and successfully did so through hosting zoom meetings, engaging on social media, and holding resource distribution events. They saw a large increase in the amount of outreach and connection with families- an important and valuable achievement during the period of pandemic isolation. To continue the momentum, CRR is dutifully working to engage people across Santa Barbara County to further the cause. See below the details for their 19th Annual Child Development Conference:
You are invited to the 19th Annual Child Development Conference to be held on Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 1550 S. College Dr. Santa Maria CA 93454!
The Annual Child Development Conference brings together early childhood educators, parents & caregivers, program administrators, students, and advocates to explore the latest evidence-based and best practices to support the mission for high-quality early learning experiences.
With a focus on empowering early childhood professionals and caregivers with fresh ideas and insights to participate in and facilitate the highest quality professional development. This year, coming out of a global pandemic, we want every participant to leave motivated to Be Resilient, Authentic, Vulnerable, Engaged, and Empowered… BRAVE!
Receive Certificate for 6 hours of Professional Development!
Special opportunity to see WINGS Preschool!
PPE supplies for all participants!
Tickets to the conference can be purchased here.
Attached below are conference registration forms in English and Spanish as well as sponsorship and advertising information.
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