Connections for Children
Supporting Quality Child Care Since 1976
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Brain science has clearly demonstrated that children's healthy growth and development in the very early years has a huge impact on their success throughout life. The earliest years of every child's life is the time when the brain is growing most dramatically and the pathways for lifelong learning are built. When children experience trauma, poverty, adversity, or stress, those pathways are not fully supported for them to attain their full potential. High quality early childhood care and education can make a big difference for our most vulnerable children, yet it is often not accessible for low and moderate income families. Our purpose is to make sure that families can find, afford, and access high quality child care to help ensure their children have support in the earliest years to learn and thrive.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Professional Development for Educators
Professional development for the early childhood workforce ensures the quality and availability of child care in our community. We offer child care providers and early childhood educators of all experience levels free professional development workshops to help them incorporate best practices and current research in early child development, health and safety, and trauma-informed care. We also offer coaching and related resources to help providers start, expand, and sustain their child care business.
Child Care Subsidy Programs
Connections for Children helps eligible low-income parents to obtain affordable quality child care for infants and toddlers as well as preschool and school-age children up to 12 years old. This frees parents to remain in the workforce and seek better earning opportunities through continued education.
Child Care Information and Referrals
Quality early care and education experiences have a positive impact on a child’s healthy development and future school success. Through our child care referral process, we connect families with licensed child care options so that they can evaluate and select the right child care for their children. Referrals are available at no cost to all parents and guardians, no matter their income.
Strengthening Families
Parents are their children’s first and most important teachers. We offer a variety of free workshops for parents focusing on different aspects of children’s development and family wellbeing. Our Parent Cafés and Family Time programs are designed to empower parents and caregivers to share the successes and challenges of child raising, and our Family Time play groups support caregiver-child interactions.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of parents able to accept and keep a job or enroll in education or training because of child care subsidy
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Families, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Child Care Subsidy Programs
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Average number of service recipients per month
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Families, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Child Care Subsidy Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Total dollar amount of scholarship awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Children and youth, Families
Related Program
Child Care Subsidy Programs
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of parents and caregivers who receive child care information, resources, and referrals
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Families, Children and youth, Economically disadvantaged people
Related Program
Child Care Information and Referrals
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Connections for Children's vision is a strong community based on all children beginning their early years with high quality early childhood experiences, education, and care that prepares them for success throughout their lives.
By supporting parents and child care providers throughout the Westside and South Bay communities of Los Angeles County with resources, education, and guidance, Connections for Children is working to build a stronger future for children and their families. Since its founding in 1976, Connections for Children has helped to foster safe and nurturing child care environments. We advocate for quality early learning and connect families, teachers, and caregivers to early childhood resources. We guide families and child care professionals towards quality services and programs. We have increased the quality of child care by influencing public policy, providing referral services for families, and offering professional development to early childhood educators.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
1) Guiding families with resources: All parents in our region, no matter their income, may contact us for information on child development and to find licensed child care and education that meets their families' individual needs and values.
2) Raising family self-sufficiency: We help eligible low-income parents obtain subsidy assistance for care for children from infancy through elementary school, enabling them to stay in the workforce or in job training for better earning opportunities.
3) Lifting quality of child care programs in our community: Through training, coaching, and resources, we work with hundreds of early educators, meeting them at their current level and supporting them to move toward higher quality levels.
4) Strengthening families: We offer a variety of free workshops for parents focusing on different aspects of children’s development and family wellbeing. Our programs are designed to empower parents and caregivers to share the successes and challenges of child raising and support caregiver-child interactions.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Connections for Children is recognized as the go-to resource for early childhood in the Westside and South Bay communities of Los Angeles County. For nearly five decades, generations of families have turned to us for help in supporting their early care and education needs.
Connections for Children upholds a reflective workplace culture that prioritizes diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. The organization has a diverse, active Board of Directors who participate in strategic thinking about emerging issues facing families and caregivers. Our staff of dedicated early childhood specialists and case managers reflects the communities we serve, and each is committed to helping families become stronger and more resilient. Connections for Children has built a broad network of community partners to offer needed resources that put children and their families first.
Connections for Children has invested in building staff capacity, infrastructure, and financial reserves—positioning the organization for scale and increased impact. We recently completed a 3-year strategic plan to address current and emerging needs among young children, families, and providers across our region.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Connections for Children has achieved significant milestones since our inception: We've provided child care information, resources, and referrals to over 199,000 parents and guardians. Over 32,000 families with more than 46,000 children have benefitted from financial assistance for early care and education. We've offered about 3,600 training sessions and provided more than 51,000 hours of individual coaching and technical assistance. And, we've contributed over $245,000,000 to the local economy through payments for child care.
Yet, until every child is able to learn and grow in safe and equitable communities, our mission will not be fulfilled.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connections for Children
Board of directorsas of 02/01/2024
Jennifer Ho
Sharon Permutter Gavin
Former Chief Scientist, AOL
Amy Crowe
Former Controller,Auctane
Joseph Gomez
PWC LLP
Stuart Laff
Rottet Studio
Jennifer Ho, Ph.D
James Irvine Foundation
Alison Havel
Community Volunteer
Sherman Misa
Crexi
Erin Shea
Ares Management LLC
Lisa Cornehl
First American Financial
Diana Means
Alliance of Women Filmmakers
Stuart Pfeifer
LAG Strategy Corp.
Erica Exberger
Graphic Designer
Gary Huff
Santa Monica College
Jill Cannon
RAND
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as: