Santa Clara County CARES Program


Overview and Partners

The Santa Clara County CARES program was launched by WestEd's E3 Institute (formerly known as the Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development) in 2002. CARES, which stands for Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Educational Standards, is designed to promote, reward and encourage educational attainment among child care professionals in Santa Clara County through a system of financial incentives and rewards.

The E3 Institute has partnered with four community-based agencies to implement the CARES stipend program:

Go Kids

The Provider Connection

P-TRAC

Kidango

These four partner agencies provide outreach and technical assistance through a series of workshops, telephone contacts, and one-on-one assistance during the application process. Each applicant is assigned to a partner agency based on the zip code of the licensed early childhood program for which they work.

Applicants may qualify for a stipend ranging from $200 - $4,000, based on his/her level of education in early childhood education. An additional family child care accreditation stipend is available for family child care business owners who are currently accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) or the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC).

Santa Clara CARES is funded by FIRST 5 Santa Clara County, First 5 California, and the California Department of Education: Child Development Division, and is operated by WestEd's E3 Institute Advancing Excellence in Early Education.