The Santa Clara County CARES program was launched by WestEd's 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 Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development 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 $100 - $4,500, based on his/her level of education in early childhood education. Additional stipends are available for early childhood professionals who have remained in their current program for more than three years, for family child care business owners who are currently accredited through the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), and for early childhood professionals who hold a current CA Child Development Permit issued by the CA Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC).