Transforming Early Child Care in Your Community Boot Camp (Spring 2026)

Description: The Transforming Early Child Care in Your Community Boot Camp will take early child care stakeholders through the Community Change process. The Community Change process involves 5 phases: Assessment, Planning, Acting, Evaluating and Sustaining. We will explore each of these phases in terms of early child care. This highly interactive series consists of 8 virtual sessions, peer to peer learning and a final project. The final project will be built along the way. Participants should expect to spend 2 hours in each session and 1 hour between sessions each week. Participants must commit to attend at least 7 out of 8 of the classes and the completion of a final project. Individuals will earn a certificate of completion. Wednesdays, April 29- June 24 12:00pm-2:00pm April 29- Introduction to Early Child Care DataMay 6- Understanding Your Community's Early Child Care StoryMay 13- Creating Your Community's Report CardMay 20- Leveraging Community Assets to Lead Early Child Care Change May 27- Introduction to Collective Impact for Early Child CareJune 3- Introduction to Ripple Effects MappingJune 10- Becoming An Early Child Care Advocate in the USJune 17- NO CLASS / WORK ON FINAL PROJECTJune 24- Class Final Project ShowcaseAudience: This class is open to anyone in the North Central Region (IA, IL, IN, KS, MN, MI, MO, OH, ND, NE, SD, WI) , but is highly recommended for Business Leaders, Economic Developers, Extension Professionals, Child Care Directors, Child Care Educators, Child Care Community Advocates, Civic Leaders and Employers. Multi-stakeholder classes create richer conversations. Multi-sector conversations are where the magic happens. Clock Hours: Missouri Residents- MOPD Clock Hours Can Be Earned For Each SessionFee: No ChargeThis project is made possible through a fellowship grant from the North Cenral Regional Center for Rural Development (NCRCRD) .